When Everything Changes
by SophVA
Summary: 16 years after SK. When Dimitri returns from Russia, no longer Strigoi, Rose instantly falls for him again; her only problems being that she's married to Adrian and she has 3 kids, one of them Dimitri's. Also from Rose's daughter Violet's POV as she follows her mother's footprints, in more ways than one.
1. Chapter 1

I watched silently as Lissa dealt with some stuck-up Royal Moroi. As-usual she seemed nothing other than calm and helpful towards the man, but through the bond I could tell that she was becoming frustrated. Finally, after about half-an-hour of complaining the royal left, apparently satisfied with Lissa's solutions. Lissa sighed and fell back into her arm-chair. I felt sorry for her when she had to deal with such irritating people. But, as Queen she also had some decent perks- like having me as one of her many Guardians.

She looked over at me and smiled, "Don't you have somewhere to be? I thought you promised to be home early today?" She looked pointedly at the antique clock hanging on the wall. I glanced at it. 5am.

"Shit," I mumbled under my breath as I ran out of the room, only stopping to hug Lissa and mutter a quick goodbye. I ran across court as fast as I could to my house, knowing that I was already 15 minutes late. Man was I in trouble. I took my keys from my jacket pocket making sure I shook them loudly. I opened the door dreading what would meet me.

"Surprise!" Nearly everyone I knew chanted. I smiled and pretended to look shocked. There were, however, two reasons that I wasn't:

I was a Guardian; pretty much nothing surprised me.

Although Lissa had been trying her hardest not to think about my birthday party, I had become curious about what she was hiding a delved deep enough into her mind to get the information needed.

The first person to run over to me was Adrian. He kissed me and then smiled showing off his fangs.

"Happy 35th Little Dhampir" he said quietly.

"Ugh, don't say that. It makes me feel old," I complained.

"You'll always be perfect to me" He said staring me straight in the eye. I laughed and kissed my husband again before moving on to greet the next guests.

The door behind me opened to reveal Lissa and Christian with their children, Grace and Jayden. All of them greeted me with a hug and a "happy birthday" before Gracie presented me with my gift. I carefully unravelled it to reveal a silver necklace with a charm hanging at the bottom of a guardian angel. The angel was carved out of diamond. I gasped, "Wow, guys I really can't accept this. It must have cost more than my house!" I exclaimed.

Lissa smiled at me "Nonsense. After what you do for me on a daily basis; it's practically nothing." She said using her natural charisma against me. I could feel through the bond that she meant what she said. The bond. That reminded me; "How did you manage to hide this from me?" I asked, curious.

"Well, I made a list of birthday presents that we could get you and then told Christian to get you one of them without me knowing which one it was." She smiled triumphantly, clearly pleased that she had hidden the necklace from me successfully.

"Okay, I'll allow you to spend big this time but next year I'll be content with some wine. Or vodka, depending on how depressed I am at being old." I joked. Christian laughed and Lissa shook her head at me chuckling. With that, they went off so that I could greet some more guests.

My fourteen-year-old son Caleb was the next in line. He gave me a lazy smile and hugged me. God he was so much like Adrian, and not just in personality. He had his Dad's emerald green eyes and lean build. He stood at almost 5.8ft so was taller than me already.

"What, no gift?" I said in mock hurt. He grinned at me.

"Daisy has it." He said.

"Oh, and who paid for that?"

He looked sheepish. "I'm paying Violet back, okay?"

"I'll forgive you for now" I said and hugged him.

I looked around the room, pleasantly surprised at how many people had come. Nearly everyone I worked with was there; some were on Guardian duty but still looked like they were involved in the celebrations. Even some of my old school friends had come; Meredith was one of the working Guardians and I thought I had seen Jill chatting to Eddie earlier. I saw Mia and her husband talking to Christian and Lissa while both sets of children chatted to each other. As I searched further I saw Alberta and my mother standing within a group of guardians. My Mom and I had become quite close since I had had my own children to look after and Alberta liked to check-up on me every few months to see how I was going. She had still kept that mentor role in my life even after I had finished school. Thinking about mentors made my heart ache. Ache for the man who had taught me how to fight and defend myself. Ache for the man who was missing. Ache for the man that I had never stopped loving. An ache for Dimitri. Yes, I loved Adrian; he was my husband and the father of two of my kids. But Dimitri was my first love, my soul-mate, and the father of my oldest daughter, Violet.

I was so lost in thought that I didn't notice my daughter Daisy running up to me. As my youngest child she was the most enthusiastic and loving. Luckily I still had three years before she became a teenager and started to disown me like her elder siblings.

"Happy Birthday Mommy!" She exclaimed jumping at me hugging me tightly.

"Thank you sweetie," I said into her head then kissing her bronze hair.

"I have your presents Mom," She said presenting me with a Scarlet gift bag. I opened it carefully and pulled out the first present, opening it carefully. It was a silver bracelet with little charms hanging off of it. I looked closer and saw that the charms all had meanings. One was a small stake representing my career, and then there were 6 figures. A small female one, representing Daisy, a larger male figure, representing Caleb, another female figure slighter bigger than Caleb's, made for Violet, then one for Adrian, one for me and one very tall figure, Dimitri. I looked at Daisy confused as to why Dimitri was incorporated into my gift. None of my kid's had even met him; he had been turned before I even found out that I was expecting Violet. Daisy shrugged, "Violet suggested it because he was her Dad and then Daddy said that you would like that, so we put him on."

I smiled overcome with emotions; happiness, sadness, pride of the thoughtfulness of my children. Just then Violet walked over to us smiling. "Have you opened all your presents yet?" She asked.

"Only one so far," Daisy replied pointing at the bracelet that I had placed on my wrist.

"Do you like it?" Violet said grinning.

"I love it," I said giving them both a hug.

Violet reminded me a lot of Dimitri, she always kept her emotions hidden and would fiercely protect those that she loved. She could be reckless like me and was one of the bravest people that I know. In looks she mainly took after her farther. She had most of Dimitri's features except for her hair and figure which were both mine. She was beautiful, probably even more pretty than I had been when I was her age. I loved spending time with her as it reminded me so much of the days I spent with Dimitri.

"Open the rest," Daisy said eagerly. She too reminded me of her own Dad. She was always friendly and confident. And was probably the most charismatic non-spirit user that there ever was. All three of my kids were novices and were pretty bad-ass. Violet was by far the best novice in her year group and would become an amazing Guardian one-day. Just like both her parents.

I reached into the bag and pulled out a large, fairly flat box. After un-ravelling the wrapping paper I carefully opened the box. Inside was a beautiful Red dress. I pulled it out so that I could look closer. It was full length and was one shoulder.

"Wow," I breathed.

"That one's from Daddy," Daisy said, clearly happy with my response.

"Well I figured that you'd come home in your uniform so I wanted to buy you something nicer to where" Adrian said from behind Daisy.

I shook my head "I'm not going to wear it tonight. I'm going to wear it to Guardian ball." I said, suddenly even more excited for the yearly Guardian ball.

Adrian smiled "I can't wait." He said.

"You finished opening the presents yet?" Asked Caleb, suddenly reappearing.

"One more," Daisy replied. I once again reached into the bag and pulled out an un-wrapped present. It was a giant collage of pictures. All put into one huge frame. There were pictures of practically everyone in the room. There were ones of Lissa and me at St. Vladmirs. Pictures of us now, pictures of my family, pictures of her family, pictures of Dimitri, pictures of my Mom pictures of my Dad, pictures of Adrian's parents. Even pictures of Tatiana (who died 5 years previously). I looked at it trying my hardest to keep from crying. It was probably the best present anyone could have given me.

"This is from everyone. We all put pictures forward and then me and Dais' just put it all together" Violet said, admiring her work.

"Thank you. Thank everyone so much! This is the best present I have ever had!" I exclaimed, overjoyed.

Everyone in the room clapped and I finally went around the room greeting everyone and saying my thank yous whilst they wished me a Happy Birthday. Then Adrian lit a gigantic cake and everyone sang while I blushed and then blew the candles out.

Later, everyone was dancing and having a good time when there was a knock at the door. I had been dancing with Violet so we went over to see who it was together. I opened the door and gasped. Not entirely sure of what I saw. How was it possible? Violet stood frozen beside me.

It was Dimitri. And he was a Dhampir.


	2. Chapter 2

I stared at him, taking his appearance in. He was defiantly a Dhampir. The sun was starting to rise and he was showing no irritation, he was just as tanned as when I last saw him and his eyes where only Brown. My heart ached for him. "Dimitri?" I said stupidly.

He smiled at me, "Happy Birthday Roza." The beautiful Russian accent greeted me and I knew it was him. My Dimitri.

"Wait, Dimitri? As in Dimitri Belikov? The Strigoi? He doesn't look like a Strigoi to me" Violet said clearly as confused as I was.

"I was a Strigoi but I was turned back by a man named Robert Doru. He saved me. He's on a mission to save as many Strigoi as he can back in Russia." He said honestly.

I couldn't help myself as I flung myself at him hugging him tightly as sobs caught in my throat and tears streamed down my face. I looked up at him and saw that he too was almost in tears.

"Roza..." He began but was interrupted by Adrian.

"Who is it?" Adrian said coming to the door. "Oh my God" He froze when he saw Dimitri. "How?" He asked. But no-one bothered to reply at that moment.

Violet had finally come out of her trance and took the leadership role. "Right guys you need to go round the back for a minute while I get everyone out." She said strongly.

Following my daughter's orders I grabbed Dimitri's arm and took him round the back of my house so that nobody would see him.

"You married Adrian?" He asked, glancing at my wedding ring.

"Yes. He helped me a lot when you where turned." I said reminiscing the days when I had relied on Lissa and Adrian to get me through the day without Dimitri. I looked up at him I saw a hint of pain in his eyes.

"The girl. The one at the door. Is she your daughter?" He asked. I could see that he had noticed the resemblance that Violet had of him.

"Yes, that's Violet, she's sixteen. I also have two other kids; Caleb and Daisy." I told him honestly. Scared of his reaction to Violet's age. I knew that he would work out that she was his child, especially since she looked so much like him. There was way too much evidence for it to be a coincidence.

"Rose, Is she..." He paused, uncertain of what to say. "Is Violet my child?" He asked growing the confidence to say it.

"Yes." I said looking him straight in the eye.

"But how?" He asked looking completely confused.

"To be honest Dimitri; I have no idea. I think it could be something to do with me being shadow-kissed, but you're defiantly the father" I said, once again fearing his reaction.

"I'd like to meet her. If that okay with you both" He added. That caught me by surprise.

"Of course, she has always asked about you and what you were like when she was growing up" I smiled

Dimitri smiled in return. He looked so irresistible when he smiled. "And what did you tell her?" He asked, teasing me a little.

"That her father was an amazing Guardian who would do anything for the ones that he loved. That he was my first love. And he helped me with everything that I did, and would have loved her and always been there for her." I said, a tear escaping. He smiled at me and wiped the tear away gently with his finger-tip. I looked up at him and saw love in his eyes, just as he had looked before he had been taken. Before he could reply Adrian walked around the back of the house eyeing Dimitri almost enviously.

"The coast is clear. Everyone is gone except for Lissa, she's concerned and wants to see you." He said and ushered us back into the house. My house was what you would expect for a royal Moroi, Adrian had brought it for us when we had first married and I loved it. We walked straight through the ballroom that we had been in for the party and into the lounge. Violet, Caleb, Daisy and Lissa all sat on one of the couches. Lissa gasped when she saw Dimitri and looked at me quizzically. Caleb and Daisy looked completely lost and surprised by Lissa's reaction. Violet clearly had re-found herself and kept her emotions masked.

I sat down opposite them with Adrian and Dimitri either side of me. Violet was the one who broke the awkward silence. "You're Dimitri Belikov, Yes?" She asked looking right at him.

"Yes. I am." He replied. I could see that he was taking his daughter in for the first time.

"And you're my Dad. Yes?" Violet asked, not afraid of asking him.

"Yes. I am." Dimitri repeated. Then, without warning, Violet jumped out of her seat and ran over to Dimitri and hugged him. I saw tears in both of their eyes as they embraced each other for the first time.

"How are you here?" Caleb asked Dimitri once he and Violet where finished hugging.

"I was in Russia hunting..." Everybody flinched at the word hunting, including Dimitri. "...When a group of un-promised Dhampirs and one Moroi found me. I was completely out-numbered and couldn't fight all of them off. They held me down and I Moroi man staked me. He was quite strong for a Moroi so I could tell that he had been training. Anyway, I expected to die but I didn't. I changed back. Robert- the Moroi- had infused the stake with spirit and it brought me back. I stayed with Robert and the Dhampirs for a while helping to bring more Strigoi back to their original state but I always knew that I needed to come back. To see how you where Rose. And to make sure that you where well-protected Lissa. So I came back, I heard that you are Queen now Lissa so I knew that Rose would be with you. Then I was told that where you lived so I came here. I know it's your birthday but I didn't know you where having a party. Sorry about that." He explained whilst everybody looked at him, intrigued at his story.

"Where are you going to live?" Daisy asked joining the conversation.

"I have a hotel booked." Dimitri said giving her one of his rare smiles. I hadn't even thought about Dimitri staying anywhere, I'd been to caught-up in my happiness that he was here. I looked at Adrian and he nodded, understanding my meaning instantly.

"No Dimitri, you can cancel your hotel booking. We want you here with us." I told him.

"Can he really stay?" Violet asked, excited at the prospect.

"Yes. He can if he wants to." I replied looking at Dimitri for a response.

"If you're sure that it's what you want, then I will stay." He said. Violet cheered and Caleb and Daisy smiled at their newfound family member. The only person who looked unhappy with the situation was Adrian. Suddenly it hit me. I loved Dimitri and I loved Adrian; I was going to have to choose between them. Between my first love and my husband.

Later that night when everyone had finally settled and Lissa had gone home I sat on my bed, deep in thought. Adrian came into the room and sat beside me.

"You love him." He said, I could tell he was finding it hard to keep his voice even.

"I can't help it." I replied making no effort to mask my emotions.

"Do you love me?" He asked, a slight desperation coming through his voice.

"Of course I do. You're my husband" I replied, shocked that he would think that I didn't.

"Do you love him more?" He said looking me in the eye.

"Adrian, I really don't know. I just know that I'm happy to finally have you both here with me and the kid's." I replied.

"I'll fight for you Rose, don't think that I won't" He said boldly. I smiled and drew the curtains, ready for some sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

I woke up late the next morning as I didn't have to work until the afternoon. Adrian was still asleep beside me so I crept slowing out of our bedroom and into the dressing room as quietly as I could. I threw on some clothes and wandered down stairs feeling hungry. As I wandered into the kitchen I was caught by surprise however, when I saw Dimitri and Daisy already there and cooking. Dimitri was making some eggs whilst Daisy buttered some toast and danced to the radio that was blaring in the corner.

"What are you two up too?" I asked them. They looked over at me, surprised at my presence.

"We're making everyone breakfast." Daisy said like it was the most obvious thing it the world. And really, it was. I just never imagined my ten-year-old daughter to be making breakfast in my house with my mentor/first love-turned-Strigoi-turned-Dhampir. I walked over to Daisy and hugged her in greeting and then walked over to Dimitri and did the same. He smelt so good, just like before he was turned. It was amazing how little the both of us had changed, to be honest I think we both still looked pretty much the same aside from a few age details.

"Good morning Rose." Dimitri said looking down at me.

"Morning Comrade." I grinned at him, almost menacingly, which was quite unusual for me now-a-days. Dimitri smiled at the use of my old nickname for him and then turned back to his eggs.

"Breakfast will be ready in a minute, why don't you go and wake Adrian, Violet and Caleb so that they don't miss out." He said. Following his orders I walked out of the room and back upstairs. I first visited my room and woke Adrian gently.

"Wake up sleepy-head." I said as he opened his eyes. "I believe breakfast is ready." I smiled and left the room to wake-up the others.

As I walked down the hallway towards Violet's room I heard voices coming from inside Caleb's bedroom. I walked over to the door about to tell them to go downstairs for breakfast when I caught what they were talking about.

"What do you think of Dimitri?" Violet asked Caleb.

"He seems okay. I just don't want him to take Dad's place though." He answered. "What do you think about him?" He asked in return.

"Well, I don't really know him well yet but he seems like everything Mom's told us about him. He is my biological Dad and I want to get to know him myself. Don't get me wrong, I love Adrian and he's always been a Dad to me but now that Dimitri's here, I want to spend some time with him." She explained to him carefully.

"What do you think Mom's gonna do?" He asked, his voice slightly worried.

"I have no idea. This is Mom we're talking about. It's obvious she loves Dimitri but she loves Adrian as well and she'll want to do what's best for us I suppose." She said logically. I was amazed at how well they knew me to know all this stuff.

"I hope she stays with Dad, I don't want Dimitri to just come here and rip our family apart." Caleb said.

"He won't, Dimitri wouldn't do that and Mom would never let that happen." Violet confidently replied.

Before they could say anything else I knocked on the door softly and opened it to reveal Caleb's cave-like bedroom. I was feeling guilty at my children's confusion but didn't tell them I had heard their conversation.

"Breakfast is ready guys; Dais' and Dimitri made it specially." I said not looking them in the eye.

"Okay, we'll be down in a sec." Caleb informed me.

I walked down the stairs to find a full English breakfast lain out on the dining room table. Daisy, Adrian and Dimitri were all sat down and Daisy was chatting to Dimitri whilst Adrian glared at him. I sat down beside Adrian and he immediately laced his fingers through mine. A few minutes later Violet and Caleb entered the room and Daisy served our breakfast. About halfway through the meal I noticed Violet looking at my hand where it was placed in Adrian's. She looked away when she saw that I had seen though.

I was happy with the way breakfast was going, everyone was chatting away and laughing, just like a normal family. It was like a dream come true. Luckily it was the summer holidays so everyone could stay at home and bond with Dimitri.

The day went by successfully with no fights. I was due to work soon so I left the house slightly concerned at how Dimitri and Adrian would manage without me. I was happy to be with Lissa though. She had a free afternoon so didn't have to hold any meetings. We sat in her lounge and talked out my situation; I was astounded at how much talking about it helped me. Lissa listened intently and didn't judge. When I was finally finished she offered me her advice:

"Rose, only time will tell you what to do. I know that you have the kid's to think about but I'm sure they'll support you with whatever you decide to do." She smiled encouragingly.

"Thanks Liss, for everything." I said returning the smile.

Suddenly there was a loud banging sound, followed by a crash. I immediately jumped up and stood in front of Lissa, ready for action. A wave of nausea hit me.

"Come on Queenie, we know you're in here. You can't always hide behind your little Guardians." A cold voice sounded. The other seven Guardians in the room all got into position, one of them calling for back-up on a walkie-talkie. A few seconds after he made the call the alarm bells started to ring alerting all Guardians around the court.

"Liss, run!" I shouted at her. She obeyed me and fled in the opposite direction with two Guardians following her.

A group of about eight Strigoi entered the room immediately attacking the Guardians closest to them. After making sure that Lissa was well-guarded I ran at the Strigoi, taking one by surprise and staking him instantly.

A female Strigoi approached me and we circled for awhile before she pounced and I dodged easily. I launched myself at her and she stumbled a little, giving me room to strike. I staked her and then jumped on a Strigoi fighting, James, one of the other Guardians. He staked the Strigoi and nodded at me in thanks. I sensed Lissa's fear through the bond and quickly made sure that no Strigoi were close to her. Three Guardians had gone down leaving only me, James and Emil. There were still four Strigoi left in the room.

I ran in the direction that Lissa had gone in and a large Strigoi followed. He struck-out at me and I only just managed to get my head out of the way in time. The blow hit my shoulder and boy, did it hurt. I kicked out at the Strigoi and hit him square in the stomach, out of the corner of my eye I saw another Strigoi approaching. Using my brief distraction the Strigoi hit me square in the face throwing me against the wall. Ouch, can't say that one didn't hurt. Dizzy, I ran up to the Strigoi faking a kick and then showing him my right-hook. He flinched a little and that was all I needed. I staked him and then ran at the other one.

This one was prepared for me and I recognised him as the one who had spoken earlier. He was clearly ancient and the leader of this group. He hit out at my already pulsing head, but I was ready for that. I used all of my strength in a round-house kick which knocked him a little. He caught my leg and pulled me closer to him. Before he could do anything however, the only other remaining Strigoi screamed in pain from behind us. My Strigoi couldn't help but look at what the matter was with the other Strigoi. He turned slightly and I drove my stake into his heart. He let out one last scream and fell to the ground.

Christian had entered the room and had set the other Strigoi alight causing it to scream in pain. An exhausted Emil quickly staked the Strigoi.

After a quick check through the bond that Lissa was okay I ran outside, panting. I saw about five Strigoi bodies and one Guardian lying on the ground. I heard grunting and followed the noise, nausea hitting as I got closer.

Dimitri and Violet were fending off three Strigoi. I instantly sprinted over staking the first Strigoi that I could. Dimitri staked the Strigoi that he was fighting and we both turned to our daughter who was fighting amazingly well against her opponent. I watched as she hit the Strigoi causing it to stumble. She staked it without hesitation.

Pride welled up in me, my little girl's first kill. I ran to her and hugged her tight. Tears streamed down her cheeks and Dimitri walked over, joining the hug. Violet buried her face into Dimitri's chest and I kissed his cheek. He kissed the tops of both our heads and pulled us in tighter.

"Where are the others?" I asked.

"They're at home, safe." Dimitri told me comfortingly.

"I'll go and check on them." Violet said, recovering from her shock and distress. She ran off in the direction of our house.

"Thank you Dimitri, for protecting her." I told him earnestly. He smiled down at me, making my heart melt.

"What kind of a father would I be if I didn't?" He asked. I looked into his beautiful brown eyes, and I saw love.

"I love you Dimitri." I told him. He smiled.

"I love you too, my Roza." He replied making my heartbeat at the speed of light.

I suddenly became aware of my splitting headache, and not from any Strigoi induced nausea. I put my hand at the back of my head; where the pain was coming from and looked at my hand. It was covered in fresh blood.

"Roza?" Dimitri said concerned. He picked me up and without warning I blacked out.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone that reviewed :D**

The blackness of my sleep disappeared to reveal the outside of the cabin at St. Vladimir's. A place that sparked so many emotions within me. I was in one of Adrian's dreams. But why here?

"Adrian!" I called out, knowing that he was here somewhere. He appeared from behind a tree smiling at me.

"Rose! How are you feeling darling?" His smile made me feel guilty of the moment that I had shared with Dimitri before I had passed out.

"I don't know yet do I." I told him, showing some of my Rose attitude. He walked over to me and caught my face between his hands. He kissed me tenderly and my heart melted a little.

"Wake up now sweetheart. Lissa healed you, so you should feel okay. Everyone is eager to see you." He told me. I tried my hardest to wake up and after a few seconds I felt myself go back to consciousness.

Glad to be awake I opened my eyes slowly, squinting because of the bright light. I was in the court hospital. Surrounding me was my entire family, Lissa, Christian, Gracie and Jayden included. They all smiled when they saw that I was awake. Daisy was sat down by my head and hugged me tightly.

"Mommy! You're awake! I was really scared, but then Aunty Lissa healed you, so I knew you'd be okay." She gushed. I laughed at her.

"Yes, thank you Lissa," I gave her my biggest smile. Through the bond I could tell that she was troubled about something. After some investigating further into her mind I found that she was distressed over the numbers from the Strigoi attack. Five Guardians had been killed and others seriously injured, me included. Luckily Lissa had healed them all immediately or some of them may have died. No Moroi had been taken, which was a relief; it meant us Guardians where doing our job properly. Humans broke through some of the wards and then an estimated fifteen Strigoi had entered the court. Losing only five Guardians to that many Strigoi was a large victory for us.

"Liss, only losing five to fifteen is amazing. You should be proud." I told her, trying to cheer her up. She replied through the bond, _but they still died because of me. _I looked at her and shook my head.

"They died protecting our world." I told her. Everyone else looked at us in confusion for only hearing half of the conversation. Lissa nodded and her mood brightened.

"So, I take it everyone is okay?" I asked looking around the room, my eyes lingering over Dimitri a little longer than anyone else, remembering what had happened before I had fainted. It was Adrian who replied.

"We're all fine, just worried about you that's all." He said giving me his signature smile.

"So, when can I get out of here then?" I asked them.

"I'll go and ask the nurse." Caleb said and disappeared to find one of the nurses.

"Rose you sure your okay?" Christian asked me. I remembered the days when we used to almost hate each other, and now we were really close friends. I smiled at him.

"Never better." That was a small lie but I was happy so it didn't really matter.

_Rose you know I'd love to stay with you but I have a meeting in ten minutes. _Lissa informed me through the bond. I nodded at her and she stood up.

"Right come on you three." She told Christian and her kids. They all hugged me goodbye.

"Bye Aunty Rose." Grace told me.

"Bye Gracie sweetheart." I replied. Then she left with her parents and older brother. A moment later Caleb returned.

"She said that you can go whenever you want but she wants you off work for at least four days." He told me. I raised my eyebrows at the '_Off work for four days'_ part, but didn't bother arguing.

"Well let's go then." I said happy to be going home. We all stood up and walked back across court to our house.

"Ah, home sweet home!" I said once we got into the house and collapsed onto the couch. Daisy laughed at my childish behaviour and Dimitri raised an eyebrow at me half-smiling.

Later that evening I had just finished wishing Daisy a goodnight when Caleb came out from the library.

"Mom, can I talk to you for a minute please?" He asked me, a troubled look on his face.

"Of course." I said and followed him into the library. We sat down on one of the posh leather couches that Adrian had been given by his parents.

"What's up Cal?" I asked, warily.

"Well I just wanted to know if you were planning to leave Dad for Dimitri. It's just that you and Dad seem to be drifting apart lately and now that Dimitri's here, and it's so obvious that you're in love, even Daisy can see it. I just want to know the truth." He voiced was laced with the slightest bit of pain that broke my heart. Without saying anything I pulled him into a hug.

"I'll be honest, I do love Dimitri but I love your Dad as well. I have you three kids to think about and I wouldn't risk your happiness for anything." I told him truthfully. He hugged me tighter.

"I don't mind who you choose Mom, well I'd prefer Dad obviously, but I want you to be happy. Me, Vi' and Dais' will adapt for you." He said. He was undeniably the sweetest and most considerate teenage boy that I had ever met.

"Thank you Caleb. You have no idea how much that means to me." I said. We sat like that for a while before I decided that I needed to talk to Adrian and Dimitri. I left Caleb and went down to the lounge where Adrian and Dimitri were sat watching TV. I cleared my throat and they both turned to me.

"I think it's time that we all talked." I said building up the courage for the conversation coming. "I'm just going to come right out and say it; I love you both and I don't know what to do." I said, my heart thumping hard against my rib-cage. "I know that eventually I'll have to choose between you and I really don't know how I'm going to do that. I really hope that you can understand."

"I understand Rose, and I'll respect your decision. I always knew that I couldn't replace Dimitri and I accepted that a long time ago. But please promise that I'll still have joint-custody of the kids if you choose him." Adrian spoke up first, blushing a little at having almost payed Dimitri a complement.

"I will understand your choice as well Roza. I know that I have a slim chance and the last thing that I ever wanted to do is to split apart your family. If you choose your husband then I too would still like to carry on seeing Violet." Dimitri told me, matching Adrian's speech-making skills.

"It will take time for me to decide, but I just want you to know that the last thing I ever wanted to do was to hurt either of you, or my children." I eyed them both, trying to get some answers from inside myself.


	5. Chapter 5

I spent the next few weeks trapped in the same routine. Everyone would act like we were a normal family whilst I constantly soul-searched and battled my feelings, hoping to come up with some type of answer to my problems. I still hadn't though. And it was beginning to drive me insane. Luckily I had at least one thing to look forward to; The Guardian ball.

Every Guardian on campus attended, the few were in relationships took their dates and lots of Moroi came; nobody minded that they were there, we still protected them, even when it was a night of us to let loose. The dress that Adrian had brought me for my birthday was practically calling my name to wear it. Adrian, Dimitri and I would all be attending along with Lissa, Christian and Eddie. I looked forward to seeing Eddie as I hadn't spent much time with him lately. Violet was baby-sitting the other two for the night, not that they really needed it anymore, but I liked to be safe.

Violet was in my bedroom helping me to get ready, we started with my make-up keeping it quite natural, but still pretty. Then onto my hair, Vi' messed about with it for a good forty minutes before she was finally finished, it fell neatly in loose ringlets that looked beautiful. Putting on the dress was the best part though; I felt elegant and beautiful for the first time in ages, I didn't want to ever take it off. It hugged my curves nicely, without being to suggestive and the colour did wonders for me.

Violet stood back and admired her work as I gazed into the mirror, delighted with how I looked. I left the bedroom and walked to the foyer where Adrian was waiting for me, he looked gorgeous in his tux. He linked my arm and we walked outside. Standing there was Dimitri, his appearance took my breath away, I was surprised that he even made an effort. He wore a black suit that showed off his lean muscles. Wow. The Russian God returns. He smiled at me and we made our way over to the venue.

As soon as we walked through the door Lissa was on-hand greeting us. She looked stunning in a long, strapless, silver dress. Soon I was swamped with old friends that I hadn't spoken to in a while; it was nice to see them but wanted to spend some time with my closest friends. Noticing that I was struggling, Eddie came and saved me, asking me for a dance. I took his hand and allowed him to take me to the dance floor. He placed one hand on my waist and took my hand with his and we danced. It was nothing romantic but it was sweet, like dancing with a brother. We danced and talked for about four songs before Adrian came and asked for my hand.

Eddie let me go, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. Adrian took me and we twirled in circles for a particularly fast song, causing us both to laugh. On next was the type of song probably made for slow dancing. I buried my head into his shoulder and he kissed my head.

"Are you having fun?" He asked me.

"Yes," I grinned, "Are you?" I returned.

"Much more now." He said. I laughed light-heartedly.

"I wonder if the kids have burnt the house down yet." I thought out-loud.

"Probably. Well, either that or they've had a house party." He chuckled. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Dimitri talking to Tasha. Jealousy coursed through me. Seeing where I was looking Adrian let me go.

"I've had my turn, now it's his." He kissed my cheek and went over to Tasha and Dimitri, taking Tasha's hand. Dimitri looked at where I was standing and walked over, taking my arm.

"You look beautiful tonight Roza, you always do." He whispered in my ear.

"And you look very handsome Comrade. I never knew that you scrubbed –up so well." I teased him, grinning.

I looked into his eyes, getting completely lost in them. And then realization dawned on me. I knew that he was the one, my soul-mate. The man that I loved more than almost anything. We just fit so well together, like ying and yang.

I managed to tear my eyes away from him for a second and walked outside, needing some air. I dragged Dimitri with me, not wanting to ever let him go.

"Are you alright Rose?" He asked once we were sat on one of the benches outside.

"I'm fine; it was just getting hot in there." I told him. He put his arm around me pulling me closer. His smell was intoxicating.

"Dimitri I..." I didn't get to finish though because suddenly he kissed me. A sweet, tender kiss that was full of love. We pulled back and I looked at him, shocked.

"I'm sorry Roza, I just, got lost in the moment?" He said, clearly not sure of how to explain his emotions.

"Don't be sorry Dimitri." I said and rested my head against his shoulder. We sat there for a few minutes, in comfortable silence. "We should go back in now, they might be missing us." I said standing up.

As we walked back in I saw Adrian looking at me curiously. Adrian. Guilt surged through me like a tidal wave. What have I done?

Dimitri walked over to our friends, probably expecting me to follow, like nothing just happened. After making sure that no one was watching I ran out of the door again and across the court to a small pond. I sat on a nearby bench and cried.

I had gotten what I wanted, an answer, Dimitri was the one. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't tell my husband that I loved another man more. I wasn't strong enough to look him in the eye and ask for a divorce. I couldn't tell my children that their family was going to break apart. It broke my heart just thinking about seeing their faces, let alone actually doing it. No, I wouldn't do that. I could never hurt my kids. I would gladly die for them, leaving would be the most selfish thing that I had ever done. I needed to stay, and tell nobody of my true feelings. Not even Lissa or Dimitri.

I heard voices calling my name in the distance and I ran home before they could reach me; very hard to do in a dress and heels. I opened the door as quietly as I could; trying to make sure that nobody would hear me come in. I snuck upstairs and took off my dress replacing it with some pyjamas. I washed my face and went to Daisy's bedroom. She was asleep in bed. She looked so peaceful. I kissed the top of her head.

"Goodnight my darling." I whispered and walked out of the room.

Downstairs, I saw a frantic looking Adrian talking to Violet and Caleb. He looked up when he saw me.

"Oh thank god Rose. You've been here the whole time? Why did you sneak off? We were worried about you." He stammered.

"I'm sorry, I didn't feel well so I left and came home. I didn't tell anyone because I knew that you would come after me and I wanted you to enjoy your night." I told him, half honestly.

"Dimitri's still out looking for you, I'll call him and tell him your here." Adrian informed me. I nodded at him.

"Are you okay now Mom?" Violet asked me, a concerned look on her face.

"I'm fine Vi', I just need some sleep." I said. I hugged Violet and Caleb and gave Adrian, who was on the phone to Dimitri, a quick kiss and went to bed, completely exhausted.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Thank you again for all the reviews, they make me happy :D. Oh, and sorry the chapters have been getting shorter, especially this one. It's hard to find cut-off points. You probably aren't going to like me very much for this one. But I'm trying to update as much as I can :D**

The next few days after the ball I spent around the house, aside from when I went to work. At the moment, that was my only purpose. I had a feeling that I was even becoming slightly depressed. I was avoiding most contact with Dimitri as much as I could without raising suspicion. My heart still couldn't help but flutter every time I saw him though. I t was just like the days when he was my mentor and our relationship was forbidden, except worse; we had more than just age and protecting Lissa to worry about, I had a husband and kids too.

Lissa was holding a meeting with some nobles so I was stuck in the corner listening to them discuss boring things. Well, boring until the Strigoi attack came up. I instinctively touched the back of my neck where five new _molnija _marks adorned. Violet had also received her first mark. That caused some mixed emotions within me. My children were growing up so fast, rather like Lissa and I had.

I was so deep in thought that I didn't even notice the nobles clearing out of the room signalling the meeting's end.

"Rose. Earth to Rose. Hello?" Lissa called me. I came back from inside my head.

"Sorry Liss, I was just thinking." I told her, she looked at me sympathetically.

"You still having trouble deciding?" She asked.

"Yer, you could say that." I replied.

"While we're on the subject of Dimitri, I wanted to get your opinion on something." Lissa said.

"On what?" I questioned.

"Well, I thinking that seeing as how he's a Dhampir and he killed that Strigoi in the attack, I thought that he might like to go back to work. At court of course, in fact I was hoping that he would work for me, since I lost some in the attack." She added sadly.

"Knowing Dimitri he'll jump at the chance." I told her.

"Can you ask him for me?" She asked.

"Of course." I said.

As soon as I was finished at work I sought out Dimitri at home. He was in the library playing chess against Violet. By the looks of it he was winning.

"Um, Dimitri, can I talk to you for a sec?" I asked. Violet threw me a confused look but didn't question me

"Sure." He said and followed me out of the room. We sat in the sitting room on the couch. "What's up Rose?" He asked.

"Lissa was wondering if you wanted to go back to work. She wants you to work for her preferably." I told him. He looked thoughtful.

"Do you think it's okay if I talk to Lissa myself?" He asked.

"I don't see why not." I said, slightly confused as to why he would want to see her after I gave him the information.

"Is she free now?" He wondered. I checked through the bond.

"Yes, she's at home with the kids." I told him.

"Okay, I'm going to see her now." He said and kissed my cheek.

"Um, bye." I said slightly dazed from the kiss. He left and I went up to the library to explain to Violet what was happening.

"Why do you think he wants to see Aunty Lissa now?" She asked once I had told her what happened.

"I don't know." I told her, honestly.

_Rose, you better come over here. Don't worry, I'm not in danger. I just want to talk to you._ Lissa's voice came through the bond. Without bothering to get information from inside head or saying goodbye to anyone I dashed across court. The Guardians at Lissa's door allowed me in instantly and I went straight to her meeting room where I found her sat with Dimitri. They looked up when I came in.

"You called her over?" He said to Lissa.

"I had to. She's the only one that might talk some sense into you." She replied.

"Okay, what's going on?" I asked them.

"Dimitri wants to leave. He wants me to send him to protect some Moroi away from court. I don't understand why though." She told me. I looked at Dimitri and frowned. What was he doing?

"I'll let you two talk this out for a bit." Lissa said and walked out of the room.

"Okay, so, what's the deal?" I asked him, now quite scared. He sighed and I sat down.

"I don't want to leave you Roza but it's for the best." He told me holding my hands in his.

"The best? How?" I asked.

"I can see the pain that I cause you every day. I know that me being here has been nothing but trouble for you. The last thing that I wanted to is to cause tension in your family." He said, pain in his eyes.

"Pain? I haven't been in pain. The only time I've felt pain is now. What about Violet? Are you just going to leave her straight after you found each other?" I asked becoming desperate.

"She has and Adrian, she doesn't need me." He said, his voice strained.

"Please don't leave me." I told him, a tear escaping my eye.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Okay, Guys, I'm trying my best to make you happy. I apologise in advance for the possible sadness and shortness of this chapter. Feel free to review! :D**

"Roza, don't cry. Please." He begged me.

"Please don't go." I managed to stammer out, my tears were pouring down my cheeks now. He took me in his arms, somehow managing to get me onto his lap.

"It's the best thing for you." He told me. I buried my face into his chest.

"No it isn't. Do you want to know the truth?" I asked him. In my moment of complete desperation I decided it was best to tell him how I felt.

"Tell me?" He whispered softly.

"I realized, at the ball, that it's you, it always has been. You're the one. I love you Dimitri."I confessed to him.

"Oh Roza." He sighed, kissing my forehead. "Why didn't you say anything?" He asked.

"Because I couldn't. I couldn't do it to Adrian or to the kids." I said quietly.

"I understand Rose, but is it making you happy?" He questioned me.

"No. It feels like a giant weight pressing down on my heart." I answered honestly.

"Roza, you know that I'll respect you decision but my main priority here is your happiness. Adrian and the kids deserve the truth, don't you think?" He asked me, always the logical one. I looked into his eyes and knew that he was right. I had to tell everyone the truth, they deserved that at least.

"If I tell them, then you have to promise that you'll stay." I attempted at a deal with him.

"Roza, I will never leave you again." His words sent a thrill though me.

"Promise?" I asked.

"I promise." He smiled comfortingly.

"What if I lose them Dimitri?" I asked, referring to my children.

"They may not understand at first, but they'll come around. They're very mature kids and they love you more that anyone." He told me.

"Okay." I agreed weakly. My palms were sweating and I felt sick with nerves. I looked up at Dimitri and kissed him. The world seemed to stop and suddenly nothing mattered but him. The kiss comforted me slightly. I stood up and took Dimitri's hand.

"Come on. I have hearts to break." I sighed, tears still falling down my cheeks. We walked out of Lissa's house calling a quick goodbye and made our way over to our house. I opened the door and felt like my heart was about to come out of my mouth.

"Rose?" Adrian called from upstairs, reluctantly I left Dimitri, we both knew that I had to do this alone.

"Adrian!" I called. "Where are you?"

He appeared from our bedroom and my heart sank. He looked at me, confused. I could tell that I looked a state, especially given that I had been crying for the last half-an-hour.

"What's the matter Rose?" He asked. I walked into our bedroom and sat on the bed; he followed and sat down beside me. I looked at him, not quite able to meet his eye. He smiled weakly.

"It's him isn't it? Belikov, you're choosing him?" He more stated than asked.

"I'm so sorry Adrian." Was all I could manage to say without breaking down completely. To my surprise he took me in his arms,

"It's okay Rose, I knew that it was him. I always knew it was him. You can't choose who you fall for." He said sadly.

"Why are you so understanding?" I asked. "Why aren't you angry? That's what I deserve. I'm such a horrible person." I wept.

"Rose, you are _not_ a horrible person. You fell in love and you've done everything in your power to protect as many people as you can." He told me sternly.

"I do love you Adrian." I told him. He smiled at me.

"I know Rose. I know." He sighed and stood up.

"Where are you going?" I asked him.

"To bed, we'll discuss everything in the morning after we tell the kids." He said.

"We?" I asked.

"I'm not going to make you do it alone Rose, and..." He hesitated. "And, well, I think Dimitri should be there as well." He said. "I know that our marriage is finished, but I still want us to be as close as we are now. Well, not _that _close, but like you are with Lissa." He said, seeming properly upset for the first time in our conversation.

"Always." I told him sincerely. He left to go and sleep in one of the spare rooms. I curled up in a ball on mine and Adrian's and my bed, for probably the last time. Tears fell down my cheeks as I thought about possible outcomes of my conversation with my children in the morning.

What seemed like hours later there was a soft knock at the door.

"Come in." I called. Dimitri walked in and sat on the end of my bed. I sat up and looked at him.

"I told him." I said. He nodded.

"I'm proud of you Roza." He replied. I put my arms around his neck.

"Are you going to tell the kids with Adrian and I?" I asked him.

"I will if that's what you think is best." He told me. I nodded.

"I could use your support." I said. He kissed my forehead.

"Sleep now my Roza. You need some rest." He informed me.

"I can't, I've been trying for ages." I claimed. He chuckled.

"Adrian only left about fifteen minutes ago, that is not ages." He observed. I sighed and fell back into the soft mattress. I would miss this bed.

"Night Comrade." I whispered,

"Goodnight Roza." He smiled giving me a quick kiss and leaving the room. I fell asleep almost instantaneously after he left, physically and emotionally exhausted.

The next morning came about far too soon for my liking. I wondered down-stairs to find everyone in the lounge, probably waiting for me. I sat down in-between Adrian and Dimitri, my heart beating at a billion miles per second. Adrian cleared his throat and all three children turned to look at us. By the looks on their faces, they had already guessed what was coming. I took a deep breath and turned to Adrian who started talking first.

"Look, guys, me and your Mom, well; we've decided that it's best that we get a divorce. We've agreed on joint custody of you all and were still going to be good friends." He said, trying to keep his tone light. Violet keep her face in a Guardian mask, Caleb looked sad but not angry. To my complete shock it was Daisy that stormed out of the room. I instantly followed her.

"Go away!" She shrieked at me and slammed the door of her bedroom. Oh god, she was usually the mild mannered child, this was what I was turning her into.

"Daisy sweetheart, open the door." I said, soothingly.

"No!" She shouted from the other side of the door.

"How am I going to explain to you if you won't talk to me?" I reasoned. A few seconds past and she opened the door, her face wet with tears. My heart ached.

I walked in and sat on her bed, patting the space next to me for her to sit on, she obliged.

"Was it Dimitri? Did he make you do this?" She commanded.

"No, of course not. Dimitri would never do that. He cares about all of you a lot. Me and your Dad, well; I just. I love Dimitri more." I blurted out. "One day Dais', you'll understand, but for now I just want you to accept this." I tried convincing her. She looked at me frowning.

"Will Dimitri be my new Daddy?" She asked

"Your father will always be your Dad Dais'. Dimitri is more of a father figure for when you're with me." I reassured her. "You like him don't you?" I inquired.

"Yes, but he's not my Dad. Where are we going to live?" She questioned. Good point. I had no idea.

"I don't know yet Daisy, we'll find somewhere though, we don't have to move out straight away, and besides, you'll spend half the time that you aren't at school here anyway." I pointed out. She sighed.

"If you promise me that you won't fight with Dad then I'll come downstairs with you." She smirked, knowing that I would make the deal; it wasn't really a hardship.

"I promise." I returned.

"Pinkie promise?" She asked. I shook her pinkie with mine and we went downstairs to see how everyone else we getting on. Violet was sat between Adrian and Dimitri, hugging them both, whilst Caleb sat on the sofa still, deep in thought. Daisy and I sat down on the couch.

"We have things to discuss now." I announced, to no one in particular.

"Yes, so, are we filing for divorce straight away?" Adrian inquired.

"I think that's for the best. We'll have joint custody, yes? When they aren't at school you can have them Monday through to Thursday lunchtime, and I'll have them for the rest of the week. Is that okay?" I started with the plans, my heart heavy.

"That's fine with me." Adrian replied. "Is that okay with you guys?" He asked the children. They all nodded wearily.

"We'll have to sort somewhere to live" I told Dimitri. He nodded.

"No. You'll live here. This house was for you. I'm not going to take it back, anyway, I have an array of houses to choose from to inhibit." Adrian corrected me. I looked at him incredulously.

"But this is your home." I reminded him.

"No Rose, this is yours." He concluded.

We discussed everything that we could think off, but not arguing once. By the time we had finished everyone was shattered and in need of some sleep. I was feeling a little better at my children's support. But I would probably feel guilty for the rest of my life.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Sorry if the last chapter wasn't quite what you wanted. Thanks for all the reviews, so far they've been great and I love reading them. Feel free to continue reviewing ;D.**

Adrian had packed up most of his stuff the day after we sorted everything out. I was a complete emotional wreck inside, but as a Guardian and a mother I managed to stay strong; not showing my pain. He had moved to a large flat in court, not very far away from us so that the kids could see him anytime that they wanted. Dimitri and I had helped him move into his new home and it hadn't been to awkward between us; which was a good sign.

Violet and Caleb were out with some friends and Daisy was at Lissa's house, playing with Grace, leaving Dimitri and me alone in the house. The kids had all developed quite strong bonds with Dimitri in a short while, which I was pleased about; it made things a lot easier for me. I was sat in the library when Dimitri entered with two mugs of hot chocolate.

"Doubled?" I asked him, recalling one of the times he had made me hot chocolate before, when I had failed to defend Christian properly during field experience.

"Of course." He said and handed me a mug. He drank his immediately and I was amazed at how the water didn't burn his mouth.

"How are you feeling today?" He questioned.

"Better, I suppose. Still guilty though. But happy too." I decided.

"That's good." He stated. I nodded, sipping my hot chocolate. I noticed him studying me.

"What?" I asked, frowning.

"You haven't changed Roza, not in appearance anyway. You have in personality though, a lot." He commented. It was true, I did look the same as I did seventeen years ago, aside from a few minor details. And my personality? Yer, that had changed alright. I had grown up a lot since having Violet and seen life even more seriously with someone else to look after.

"Neither have you, not at all." I observed. He was the same Dimitri. I kissed him softly, reminding myself of the night in the cabin that we had shared. The night that had changed me forever. He seemed to know what I was thinking.

"I'm sorry Roza, for leaving you on your own, when I was taken I mean." He apologised.

"There was nothing either of us could do, don't blame yourself." I told him.

"The things that I did Roza, when I was turned... It gives me nightmares." He said, sadly.

"You weren't yourself; you can't torture yourself over it." I attempted to assure him. He just nodded sadly.

"It was my body though, my hands, my brain." He said, avoiding eye contact. I took his face in my hands and kissed him again. He responded kissing me back passionately. I moved over on to his lap without breaking the kiss. He hands wandered up my shirt tracing my hips. I found the edge of his shirt and pulled it over his head and pressed myself into his chest, my fingertips stroking his abs. As I came up for air his mouth moved to my neck, brushing softly along my collar bone. More and more clothes came off before there were none left.

"Maybe we should go..." I didn't finish as he kissed me again. I took his hand and started to lead him to our bedroom, stopping every now and then to kiss. Before entering the bedroom I slipped into the bathroom quickly grabbing some protection before following Dimitri into the bedroom...

When we had finished we went downstairs and Dimitri started cooking dinner for everyone. I pulled out my cell phone and texted Violet and Caleb to come home. I gave Dimitri a long kiss goodbye and then left to go and collect Daisy. I was half-way when the alarms started blaring, signalling an attack.

I sprinted to Lissa's house as quickly as I could, my stake in my hand. Strigoi were already in there. I briefly saw Daisy, Lissa and Grace in the corner surrounded by Guardians fighting off Strigoi, there were loads of them. The first Strigoi came at me and I took it easily, it was clearly very young. In fact, I think most of them were. I ran at another and caught in by surprise, it wasn't as weak as the other one though and it soon recovered, trying to get his arms around me. I kicked him hard and he stumbled back, I pounced on him and staked him. Beside me I saw Christian.

"Christian!" I yelled at him. "Were going to have to work together again." I told him. He nodded and came over to me, just as another Strigoi approached. Christian immediately set it alight and I staked it. We did this until there were no more Strigoi left in the house and went outside, leaving Lissa and the kids with some other Guardians.

Outside was a complete battlefield; About fifty Strigoi were fighting as many Guardians, and both sides were losing people. I saw Violet and Dimitri in the far corner of the battlefield, fighting well. Christian and I burst into action taking out most of the Strigoi around us, until one caught Christian.

"Rose!" He called at me for help, but I couldn't quite get there in time. Instead someone else hit the Strigoi, scratching it with a stake; Caleb. What the hell was he doing out here? He couldn't fight, not yet, he was only fourteen for God's sake! The Strigoi flinched and Christian set it alight, giving me time to stake it.

"Caleb! Get out of here, now!" I commanded him.

"No, I can help Mom!" He called back.

"You're only going to distract me! Now GO!" I shrieked at him. He seemed to follow my instructions and ran away from the field. Christian and I battled on, meeting Dimitri and Violet in the centre of the fight. The number of Strigoi was going down now, mainly thanks to Christian and I. Out of the corner of my eye I saw some Strigoi run off with a group of Guardians following them, leaving only the four of us and a couple of other Guardians fighting the few remaining Strigoi. We had them, until Christian started to help out Violet; who was fighting like a Guardian twice her age. A Strigoi grabbed me from behind and I was saw he was about to kill me when Caleb came running back in. He punched the Strigoi who dropped me and turned to Caleb. The Strigoi grabbed Caleb and before I could get there, I heard a snap, Caleb's neck had been broken.

"NO!" I shrieked. Adrenaline pumped through my muscles as I staked the Strigoi and caught my son in my arms.

"Caleb. Caleb, can you hear me? It's going to be okay." I told him frantically. Tears pouring down my cheeks.

"I'm s-sorry Mom." He choked.

"Shhhh darling. Don't speak. It's going to be okay." I repeated, not sure if I was convincing him or myself.

"I love you Mom." He spluttered, a tear rolling down his cheek. I wiped it away, holding him tightly. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it feebly.

"Caleb." I whimpered as I felt the life slip out of my son. His eyes went blank and his hand dropped out of mine. He was gone.

**AN: :'(**


	9. Chapter 9

I cried into his chest, completely breaking down. My son, my only son was gone.

"Mom, is he?" I looked up at Violet standing above me. On seeing her brothers still body she too, fell to the floor, weeping. She knelt at the opposite side of Caleb holding his hand. An idea suddenly hit me. I looked around, seeing that the Strigoi had all been killed. Dimitri and Christian stood about three metres away, giving us space. Christian looked on the verge of crying himself, after all, he was Caleb's godfather. Dimitri kept his Guardian mask on, but in his eyes I saw pain and grief.

"Dimitri! Run as fast as you can and get Adrian and bring him here. Don't even tell him, just get him here. _As fast as you can._" I etherised. He understood the urgency in my voice and sprinted off towards Adrian's house. I looked back down at my son. His eyes looked wrong so I gently closed the lids so that he looked asleep. I kissed both of his eyelids and started to stroke his hair, my little boy, he was so young. This couldn't happen.

A few minutes after Dimitri returned with Adrian following. He took one look at Caleb and sank to his knees in despair. After a couple of seconds he asked, "How could you let him on the battlefield?" I knew that he was grieving but his unfair accusation cut me deeply. I was responsible and I knew it, but being accused still hurt.

"There's no time for that right now. Adrian, you need to heal him back. Use spirit. I can't lose him. Please try." I babbled, in complete hysterics. He immediately complied, wanting to save his son as much as I did.

He approached us and placed his hands on Caleb's temples. Concentration showed on his face and he started to sweat. I could tell that Spirit was surging though him, just like it did with Lissa. After about a minute of nothing, Caleb let out a gasp for air. I put my fingers on his neck and felt the steady beat of his pulse. The colour started to come back to his cheeks and his breathing deepened. He was alive again. I started to weep, but this time with joy.

Adrian sighed with relief and sat back, weak from the amount of spirit used. Caleb didn't regain conciseness, but he was alive, that was the main thing.

"Rose, why don't we all go to the hospital and get checked out?" Dimitri asked. I nodded and started to try and pick Caleb up. Before I could Dimitri took him in his arms, knowing that I was too weak at that moment. I stood up and then offered Adrian my hand. He took it and stood up slowly.

"I didn't allow him to come to the attack." I stated as we walked to court hospital.

"I know Rose, I was just, well, my son was dead. I didn't know what to say. You're the best mother that he could have." He complemented me, taking back his comment.

"I'm not. If I was then he would have listened. He would have stayed away, he wouldn't have died." I choked.

"He's back now Rose. It's okay." He comforted me. As we walked into the infirmary we saw that it was already full of injured Guardians and Moroi alike. On seeing us approach a nurse immediately took Caleb's limp body and placed him on a bed, wheeling him off for treatment. The rest of us all sat down in the waiting room to be checked over.

In one of the cubicles I saw Lissa and Grace healing the injured. Daisy was stood behind them looking worried and impatient. She caught my eye and ran over, hugging me tight.

"Are you okay Mommy?" She asked before hugging Violet.

"I'm fine sweetie." I lied, not wanting to worry her. Really, I suspected a fractured wrist, severely bruised neck and probably a few cracked ribs; that were all very painful. But I was dealing, more concerned about my son.

After she had hugged everybody Daisy scanned us. I knew who she was looking for.

"Where's Caleb?" She asked, confirming my thoughts. I allowed someone else to answer that one. Dimitri was the one to step up.

"Your brother had an incident with one of the Strigoi Daisy. He's being treated now, he should be okay though." He said softly. I laced my fingers though his as a way of thanking him for explaining. He gave me a half smile. A nurse came over to us just then.

"Excuse me? Are you the family of Caleb Ivashkov?" She queried. We confirmed our identity's with a nod.

"He seems to have a lot of damage to his upper body, around the neck and rib-cage especially. It's a miracle that he even made it here. Queen Vasilisa is treating him as we speak, so he should be okay." She told us gravely.

"Can we see him?" I questioned.

"When you've been treated then I'm sure that you can." She agreed. Our names were called out in alphabetical order, Christian being first as Adrian wasn't hurt. When it got down to me I reluctantly left Violet and followed a nurse into one of the cubicles. She did her scans and asked questions whilst trying to make small talk, I wasn't really in the mood to comply though and she shut up after a while. Soon she brought back the test results, proving my earlier thought correct; a fractured wrist, damaged neck and four cracked ribs.

Lissa came in and I could tell that she was going to heal me. I wouldn't be against it if I didn't know how bad the effects of spirit would hit her after this, and then I would probably take it away, causing my own depression.

"Rose! I just finished treating Dimitri; he's okay as is Christian and Caleb." She proclaimed happily. I rummaged through her mind searching for any spirit-induced darkness, to my surprise there was none.

"What have you done differently today?" I asked her. "With spirit I mean."

She frowned at me. "Nothing that I know of. Why?" She answered. Now it was my turn to frown.

"There's no darkness." I informed her. She shrugged.

"Maybe I finally got over it or something?" She suggested. I continued to frown but let it go for the time being.

"Go on then." I sighed. She smiled happily and healed me until I felt no more pain. Just to check I searched her head and still found no darkness. Weird.

"Oh and Rose the numbers came in a minute ago; we lost eleven Guardians to fifty Strigoi and no Moroi were taken." She said sadly.

"Could have been twelve." I muttered under my breath. Through the bond I could tell that Lissa was sad for the loses but was relieved that it wasn't more than that. Ever since she over-turned the rules against Moroi fighting with Dhampirs, the good has had a slight lead over the evil. Especially thanks to fire users.

"Can I go and see Caleb now?" I asked the nurse once Lissa had gone.

"I don't see why not, he's awake and stable now." She told me. Taking that as a yes I speed-walked into the intensive care unit where he was held hostage. Adrian was sat next to him already but stood up when I walked in.

"I'll go get us some drinks." He said, using it as an excuse to give me and Caleb some privacy. I wouldn't have minded him staying, he was Caleb's dad and still my legal husband after all, but I didn't say anything when he left. I sat down in the chair next to Caleb's bed and looked at him. He smiled at me.

"Thanks Mom, I know what you did. I know that this was your idea and that I would be dead if it wasn't for you." He said, still smiling. I laughed brushing off his flattery.

"I wasn't just going to let my own son die was I?" I challenged lightly.

"Of course not." He said rolling his eyes. To be honest I was amazed at how light our conversation was, considering how he only just came back from the land of the dead.

"Besides, I felt lonely being the only shadow-kissed person, I felt in need of a buddy." I joked. We both laughed.

"It's weird isn't it? It's like sharing your mind with someone else, like another mind that you can't control." He spoke, referring to being bonded with Adrian.

"It's okay, you'll get used to it. One day you'll be able to control it enough to block it out." I reassured him.

"It's kinda nice though. Like, being able to know that Dad is safe and knowing if he's in trouble that I can go and protect him." He said bravely. I raised my eyebrows, still not able to only lift one.

"Not yet Caleb. You know what happened out there. I don't want you rushing into fights without thinking." I said hypocritically. Unfortunately for him he was a little too much like me and felt the same impulsive desire to keep everyone safe, even if it cost him his life.

"When I'm a better Guardian then I will." He concluded. As much as I didn't like it I understood his need and didn't argue.


	10. Chapter 10

The next few weeks flew by, not that I minded. I was just happy to have my family all together. Well, minus Adrian but he was always around. My kids, Dimitri and I were happy and there had been no more Strigoi attacks. Many people had left court after the attack thinking that they would be safer in a quieter area, this had left the court with an empty feel at first but, like every tragedy, everything went back to normal after a while.

My relationship with Dimitri had been going from strength to strength, I had thought it impossible to love him anymore than I already did; that had been proved wrong. He was my salvation, being with him was like living a perfect life. Of course, my life wasn't perfect, but it certainly felt like it.

Lissa had been in daily meetings trying to sort out the damages that the Strigoi had caused not only physically, but in the moral of a lot of vampires. It was being sorted though and Lissa was still happy and unaffected by any spirit darkness. So, yer, my life was pretty good.

Caleb and I had had many talks about being shadow kissed, he was getting used to it. Luckily for him no ghosts had appeared yet because we were behind wards, I wasn't looking forward to that one. Him being bonded with Adrian also helped me a lot as Caleb could tell me his emotions and how he was doing. Caleb was unconditionally loyal to Adrian and didn't tell me any of his deeper thoughts, only ones he thought might help both Adrian and I.

"Mom?" I heard Violet call from the hallway. She had just come back from Adrian's house, choosing not to sleep there like her siblings.

"In the kitchen." I called back. She entered and sat on one of the dining chairs, looking at me. I followed her lead and sat down opposite her.

"Mom did Caleb tell you?" She asked carefully.

"Tell me what?" I returned, curious now.

"Apparently not." She muttered. "Mom, umm, well; Adrian has a girlfriend okay?" She blurted out. I was hurt, not because he was moving one, but because he hadn't told me. He had left it to one of the kids, who probably felt bad for intruding now as well.

"Who?" I asked, not sure that I actually wanted to know. My mind created an impossibly beautiful royal Moroi and I'll admit; I was slightly jealous.

"Her name's Olivia. I think she's a Drozdov." She told me cautiously. I held back my hurt and tried to prevent it from turning to anger. I stood up and started walking towards the door.

"Where are you going? Please don't go over there." She pleaded with me.

"I'm not, I just feel like some fresh air, seeing Adrian isn't really a priority right now." I informed her. She eyed me suspiciously but didn't bother investigating further. I had actually been telling the truth, I didn't really want to see Adrian I just needed a walk to sort my feeling out.

I got about twenty metres away from the door when somebody fell into step with me, taking my hand in theirs. I looked up at Dimitri frowning. He simply smiled down, guessing that I had been caught off-guard. I was happy to see him as he was always a comfort to me.

"Did you hear the news?" I questioned him, wanting to know why he had followed.

"No. What news?" He pondered.

"Adrian has a girlfriend." I announced, trying to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. He looked at me sympathetically.

"And you're upset about it." He stated. I nodded, knowing that Dimitri would be understanding enough not to take offence.

"Well, not upset exactly. I'm glad that he's moving on, it's just weird that's all." I explained. He took a step in front of me blocking my path and then placed his hands on my hips.

"Of course it would be strange Rose; you've been married to him for fourteen years." He spoke lightly about the fact that I was still married to him. We had filed for divorce, but were waiting for it come through. I nodded, knowing that he was right, as per usual.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, taking comfort in his warmth. He still wore his duster practically everywhere he went, giving me a good source for jokes. I stood on my tip-toes and kissed him softly.

"Suddenly I feel like going home." I teased him.

"You do? There's a surprise." He said, giving it straight back. We walked back home with a sense of haste. Violet had left a note on the table saying that she had gone out with some friends and would be sleeping over one of her court friend's house. Happy that we had the house alone Dimitri and I took comfort in each other. He kissed me passionately and I eagerly responded. There was such intensity between us that you could probably physically see it. I loved him with all my heart.

"I love you Roza." Dimitri said between kisses.

"I love you too." I replied, taking a deep breath. His hands searched my body and his tongue traced my lips. Oh god I loved him so much that it hurt. As we had sex I thought about the first time in the cabin, how easily something so perfect could be destroyed. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Dimitri; there was no doubt in my mind.

I woke up with my head on Dimitri's chest. I could feel his heart beat against my head, and listen to the steady beat. Pure bliss would be the words to describe that moment, better than even a Moroi bite. As soon as I moved Dimitri woke up.

"Good morning." I said before kissing him.

"Hello Roza." He laughed kissing me back.

"Breakfast?" I offered.

"With your cooking? I think I'd better make it." He teased me. I reluctantly got out of bed and led him downstairs to the kitchen, stopping a few times to kiss.

Now this? This was the life.

**AN: I figured since we'd had a few sad chapters lately I would give you guys a happy one :D What do you think? Should I stick to dramatic ones? Or do we like happier chapters? Reviews most welcome :D :D :D **


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Please review, I love hearing comments and Ideas and will try and use them :D**

**And to anyone that has reviewed; ILOVEYOU! 3. Just had to get that off my chest ;D**

I read it for about the fifth time in a minute. My divorce papers had come through. Mixed emotions churned within me, I was happy that I was free to be with Dimitri yet sad that it seemed like the end of an era.

"So you're a single woman now?" Dimitri asked coming from behind me. I sighed as he put his arms around my hips.

"Apparently so." I said.

"Is that a good thing?" He asked concern in his voice.

"Yes, it's just kinda sad that it's really the end." I explained. He nodded and kissed the top of my head. I walked off to the lounge where the kids were all sat watching TV. I handed Violet the papers and she gave me a sympathetic look. Caleb glanced at them quickly before handing them back.

"So you and Daddy aren't married anymore?" Daisy questioned me after she had looked at the divorce papers.

"No. But that's okay isn't it?" I said. She nodded slowly. I looked at the others and they both nodded as well. I checked my watch for the time quickly.

"You better get over your Dad's now, he'll be wondering where you are." I said. I glanced out the window, it was pouring. "You want me to drive you?" I offered. Adrian's house was a good fifteen minute walk away and I didn't want them getting drenched.

"Please." Violet accepted, probably worried about her hair. I followed them all out to my car. Dimitri kissed me goodbye and I got in the car and started the engine, driving off.

I stayed in the car when the kids got out running to Adrian's front door. I had been inside a few times when he was moving out and I was helping him to move his stuff. I watched as he answered the door and let the kids inside. When he caught sight of me he signalled for me to go in. Not wanting to rude I got out of my car and walked over to him. He kissed my cheek and led me inside. His house was quite a bit smaller than mine but could still easily fit everyone inside it.

"Drink?" He offered me as we walked into the kitchen.

"I'm okay thanks." I declined. We sat at a small table.

"Rose... I know that Violet told you about Olivia. I was going to tell you myself but I never got the chance, I never see you anymore." He said, a hint of pain in his voice. He missed me, and to be honest, I missed him to.

"It's okay; it's none of my business anyway." I stated.

"Of course it is, you're the mother of my children." He corrected me. I smiled.

"How serious is it?" I questioned. He looked thoughtful.

"Casual, I'm not ready for a serious relationship right now; I only just escaped one." He joked and I laughed. I was glad that we were still close, he would always be one of my best friend's, no matter what. As selfish as it seems, I was relieved that he wasn't in a serious relationship yet. That would be even harder on the kids, not to mention my own probable jealousy.

"Unfortunately, I set the bar quite high by marrying you; so it's quite hard to even consider dating most girls." He continued. I blushed stupidly and raised my eyebrows.

"So Olivia's not one that you find it hard to date then?" I teased him.

"You'll have to meet her sometime, she's actually pretty nice. As opposed to my ex-wife, she was a right bitch." He taunted me. I punched him lightly on the arm laughing.

"Right, I'd better go. I'll trust that my kids are in safe hands." I said and stood up. He kissed y cheek and then saw me out the door.

"You're welcome anytime that you want Rose, just so that you know." He told me.

"And you can always come home." I returned. He smiled and kissed my cheek again before I walked out the door and drove home.

I found Dimitri in the library reading one of his western novels. He looked up as I walked in and placed a bookmark in the page.

"Hey." I greeted him.

"Hi." He replied. I walked over to where he was and sat in the armchair next to his.

"Roza, I was wondering, and you can tell me if I'm out-of-order but..." He pondered, trying to work out his words. "If you would ever consider having another child?" He asked. That took me by surprise.

"Well, I never really thought about it." I answered honestly. "Do you want one?" I asked. He nodded.

"It's just that my only biological child is Violet, and I never got the chance to see her grow up. I wouldn't mind if you declined, it's just a thought anyway." He explained. His logic made perfect sense to me; having seen all my kids grow up and treasuring every moment. Another child though? I didn't know if I could handle it, but Dimitri deserved the chance at real fatherhood. I would manage and I'm sure that the kids would be excited. I was decided.

"Okay. We'll try for another child, but I can't promise that it'll work; we're both Dhampirs after all." I concluded. He smiled and kissed me. "And Dimitri? I think we should start trying now." I said. He didn't hesitate and we got to work.

A few hours later we were in the lounge, watching TV together. Well, more concentrating on each other than the TV.

"I don't think that we should tell anyone else until we actually know that I'm pregnant. I don't want to tell them just for them, and us, to be disappointed." I suggested. He nodded in agreement.

"Rose, I want use to have a fresh start. I think that we should do it properly. Like good people would." He teased chuckling.

"How do you mean?" I asked, not following.

"I know that you only just got divorced, but, I want to marry you." He declared. Happiness rushed through every cell in my body. Was he for real? Oh my god.

"Really?" I asked, finding it hard to keep my voice even.

"Yes Roza." He chuckled. He stood up taking me with him. He bent down on one knee and took my hand. Excitement rushed through me and I couldn't wipe the smile from my face. "Rosemarie Hathaway; will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?" He asked. Such simple words had such a deep and powerful meaning, especially when they came from Dimitri. It wasn't even the most romantic proposal that I had ever seen and yet that didn't even matter. I could be with Dimitri forever, that in itself was a blessing. I loved him with all my heart and that was all that mattered.

"Yes Dimitri. I will marry you." I said and hugged him tightly. He swung me around in a circle and kissed me passionately. "I take it we can tell people about this?" I said, awaiting confirmation. But he shook his head.

"Not until you have your ring." He insisted. I sighed with happiness.

"Okay." I said and kissed him again.

**AN: Aww, cute right? What do we think; baby girl or baby boy? Names? Or maybe no baby at all? Oooh, exciting ;D Reviews are extremely appreciated! :D **


	12. Chapter 12

Those two minutes seemed to take forever. Dimitri was sat on the bed calmly while I paced up and down our bedroom impatiently, waiting for the pregnancy test to reveal its results.

"Hurry up." I groaned.

"Calm down Rose." Dimitri reasoned. I glared at him wondering how he was so chilled. Finally the clock showed that two minutes had finished. I grabbed the test and grinned handing it to Dimitri. Positive. He smiled and pulled me into a hug.

"Now we tell the kids?" I asked him. It was only last week that we had told both the kids and Adrian that we were engaged. The kids were all happy for us, as was Adrian. Well I thought that he was until Caleb informed me that he was pretty upset and had started drinking. I had gone to his house and talked it out with him also revealing that I could be pregnant. We had discussed our lives for hours and when we had finished he chucked all the alcohol in his house away. Now he was only happy for us, I checked in with Caleb regularly that he was though.

"Yes Roza, now we can tell the kids, and everyone else." He told me. I had already told Lissa, unable to wait. She had been ecstatic at the idea of being an Aunt again.

"Now?" I said.

"If you want."

We went down the stairs to find the kids in all in the ballroom listening to some music on the speakers.

"Can you talk to you guys for a minute?" I asked them. Caleb rolled his eyes.

"It's a wonder that there's anything left to talk about," he joked. They all came over to us anyway.

"You aren't getting divorced are you?" Daisy asked worriedly. Everyone else laughed.

"No Dais', you can't get divorced until you're married." I informed her. She blushed.

"The reason that we needed to talk to you is because we have some news. You're Mom is pregnant." He announced. Violet gasped and Caleb gaped while Daisy squealed in excitement and ran over and hugged us.

"Seriously?" Violet asked.

"Yes, Vi'." I answered. She smiled.

"It's gonna be my first sibling to share my DNA." She said and hugged us.

"Congrats guys." Caleb congratulated us.

Just then there was a knock at the door and I went over to answer it. The door opened to reveal a Moroi woman. She was pretty, but not stunning. She had long Auburn hair that fell in ringlets; she had stone gray eyes and was pretty skinny all over. She smiled when she saw me, revealing her fangs.

"You must be Rose. I'm Olivia Drozdov, Adrian's girlfriend." She introduced herself and offered me her hand, I shook it.

"Yer, I'm Rose. Was there anything that you wanted?" I inquired, trying my hardest not to be rude.

"I just dropped by to give Daisy her hairclip back, she left it in the back of my car yesterday." She explained and handed me Daisy's clip.

"Thanks," I said.

"No problem."

"Well, it was nice meeting you." I said, closing the awkward conversation.

"You too." She replied and left. I closed the door and walked back to the others, giving Daisy her clip. So that was Olivia, there was something about her that I didn't like, and not the fact that she was involved with Adrian.

"Mom, can you come help me pack for school?" Violet asked.

"Course." I said with regret that my kids had to go back to St. Vladimir's next week. We walked up the stairs to her bedroom.

"Was that Olivia?" Violet asked me.

"Yes." I told her.

"I don't like her." Vi' revealed.

"You don't?" I checked. She shook her head.

"She thinks that we're inferior because we're Dhampirs that live with a royal Moroi. Not so much me, but Caleb and Dais' because they actually are Ivashkovs." She admitted.

"How do you know?" I questioned. She shrugged.

"It's just some comments that she makes." She said.

"Like what?" I asked.

"Like; _Violet, just think, you'll be working for people like me._ Or; _It's a shame you're a Dhampir, you're a pretty girl, you could have had a good husband and family._" She imitated Olivia's high, intimidating voice well. The comments angered me as I remembered the time when I had resented being a Dhampir and not being able to have a life. But I did.

"Does Adrian know?" I asked her.

"No, he really likes her so I didn't want to tell him." She admitted.

"Right I'm going to sort this out." I vowed.

"Mom." Violet moaned. "Do you have to?" She complained.

"Yes." I answered simply. With that I walked out of the house and drove to Adrian's house. I knocked harder than I really needed to on his door.

"Rose?" He said opening the door. I walked in.

"Do you know what you're girlfriends been saying to Violet?" I demanded. He shook his head, looking confused.

"What?" He asked.

"She's been making her feel inferior and the other two as well!" I exclaimed.

"How?" He questioned.

"By making bitchy comments about Dhampirs to her. She shouldn't be made to feel like that in her own home." I warned.

"I know." He sighed.

"What do you mean 'you know'?" I asked, now confused.

"I know Olivia's views on royal Dhampirs and Dhampirs with royal names." He admitted.

"Then why the hell are you dating her when all of your kids _are_ Dhampirs?" I snapped at him.

"Because she was the first person to express interest in me, I wanted someone that would help me get over you." He confessed. My anger turned to sympathy quickly. "I don't actually like her, and I didn't know that she was saying stuff to them." He admitted, I believed him.

"I'm sorry Adrian." I apologised to him.

"It's okay Rose, you were only defending the kids. I'll break up with her tomorrow." He said.

"Okay." I agreed, happy that my kids would be happier without her. "Bye Adrian." I said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek and then leaving.


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: For this chapter I thought I'd try using someone else POV, just to see what it's like. Review and tell me what you think, if you like then I might try some other peoples POV as well. :D**

**VPOV.**

Thank god for that. Adrian had dumped Olivia, she was a bitch and I don't think he even liked her that much anyway. I had thought he did but then Caleb told me the truth. I was weird having a shadow kissed brother; he knows _everything_ about Adrian now. And trust me; it's weird to know what your parents got up to in their younger, especially when one of your parents is Adrian Ivashkov. Luckily for me, Caleb spared me most of the horrific details.

Mom was pregnant again, that should be interesting. I remember when she was pregnant with Daisy, I had only been six, but I still remember how hormonal she was; one minute she was yelling at me and Caleb for leaving our toys out, the next she was practically in tears asking for forgiveness. Dimitri was good at looking after her though. He could keep her in check a lot easier than Adrian ever used to.

I was weird suddenly having two father figures in my life, I had never known Dimitri but he was my biological Dad. And boy was that obvious, I looked _exactly _like him, except female. He told me the other day that I looked a little like his younger sister Viktoria, except with some Rose thrown in. We had been bonding loads, which was really nice. He was Dad and I loved him the only problem that I had was my loyalty to Adrian. He had raised me as his own and he had always been my Dad but now there was Dimitri I didn't want him to feel like he was being replaced. Adrian and Dimitri say I'm like Mom, but Mom says I'm like Dimitri so I have to conclude that I'm a good mix of both.

Caleb and Daisy were at Adrian's house so I was at home alone while Mom and Dimitri were at work. There was nothing on TV so I was bored shitless. Thankfully I received a text from Jayden to ease my boredom slightly. _U comin out? x, _It read. He was only a few months younger than me, which, from what I heard, had caused quite a stir. It was all 'Princess Valilisa is having a kid with the Strigoi-wannabe at 18 years old'. I had caused quite a controversy myself, when I was born I had to have _hundreds_ of tests performed on me since I was born from a Dhampir and another Dhampir.

_Sure, where yuu wanna go? 3,_ I texted back. We had always been close but recently, we'd been getting _closer._ We hadn't kissed or anything, well that was a lie, we had kissed once; last year at school during spin-the-bottle. I won't deny that I enjoyed that. But there was always something stopping us going any further with our relationship; he was the son of the Queen and I was just a Dhampir. I was going to be his Guardian in two years anyway, nothing could happen between us.

_Come to mine, there's nobody home ;) x,_ He sent me. Without hesitation I wrote a quick note to Mom explaining where I was and then left for the royal quarters. Jayden was stood at the window waiting for me; he came out the door and hugged me tight, my heart fluttered.

"Hey." I greeted.

"S'up?" He returned.

"Nothing, you just saving me from slitting my wrists, I was _so_ bored." I joked. He chuckled at my comment and led us inside.

"I was practising some magic." He explained as we walked into his bedroom that was filled with smoke.

"I can tell." I laughed opening his window. I was completely comfortable in this house; I had spent loads of my childhood here.

Jayden stood at his mirror attempting to get his black hair to stay down; it wouldn't work though. His hair never stayed in its place, it was actually pretty cute. Especially since it was paired with his signature Dragomir eyes. He was by far the hottest guy at school, but then maybe I was biased. He was still hot though. Noticing my stare he smiled into the mirror.

"It's never going to stay down you know," I informed him, walking over to the mirror.

"I know," He sighed. I grabbed a pot of hair gel from on top of his drawers. I got a lump of the hair gel in my hand and started to help him to do his hair. Really, I just enjoyed the closeness; and I think he did too. We finally got it to go down completely so I started to style it, making a Mohican for him. He started to play with my hair as well, tying it up into high pig-tails that looked ridiculous. He collapsed onto his bed in fits of laughter.

When we had finally calmed down he gently pulled the hair-bands out of my hair.

"How's your Mom doing?" He asked casually. Absentmindedly he had caught hold of a strand of my hair and was curling around his finger.

"She's good. Her and Dimitri are getting married _and _Mom's pregnant." I announced to him.

"Whoa. Really? That's moving pretty fast." He commented.

"I know right? But they're happy, so I am too." I agreed.

"Dimitri is one lucky man." He teased. I punched him lightly.

"Eww, that's my _Mom _that you're talking about." I said, faking disgust. He just grinned.

"Your Mom's hot, but she has nothing on you." He said, a serious look in his eye. I blushed, unable to think of anything to say. He stroked my cheek, making the blood rush even faster; my cheek was probably like a tomato right now. He leant in and kissed me softly. My world stopped, suddenly trapped in this beautiful moment of pure bliss.

We made out for god know how long, completely comfortable with each other until thing started to get even more passionate. His hand slid up my top; undoing my bra strap. I wasn't worried about having sex, I had lost my virginity ages ago and I knew that he had too. I gently pulled off his shirt revealing his toned chest; he did the same and then moved on my skirt. It pulled off easily, and he slid my underwear off as well; leaving me completely naked. I took off his jeans and boxers and aloud my hands to travel his body. He stopped kissing me and moved down to my shoulder and collar bone. A thought suddenly hit me.

"Contraception," I told him. He reluctantly moved from on top of me and rummaged around his room, looking for a condom. He found one and came back to me.

"I love you Violet." He whispered in my ear. It was a wonder that he couldn't hear my heart beating, it was pounding so violently.

"I love you too." I replied. It was true; I did. I kissed him again and we had sex, it was beautiful. Sex was so much better when you did it with someone that you love.

We just lay there for ages afterwards, taking comfort in each other's presence. Then, unfortunately, we heard people enter the house downstairs. I heard my Mom's voice along with Dimitri's and Lissa's. I got up and dressed quickly and walked down the stairs with Jayden. Before we went into the lounge where everyone else was I stopped Jayden.

"So, are we dating now?" I asked him. I chuckled and kissed me softly.

"Yes." He informed me. I grinned at him.

"Do we tell them?" I wondered.

"Yes." He repeated.

"Okay." I said and we walked through the door.

"Hey guys." Christian greeted us.

"Hey." We both replied.

"What've you two been up to?" Mom eyed us suspiciously. Damn she was good.

"Nothing." I answered as innocently as I could.

"So, um, we have something to tell you guys." Jayden started. I saw Dimitri raise his eyebrows; probably ready to break Jayden's legs if he announced that I was pregnant.

"We're dating." Jay confessed.

"Aw," Lissa and Mom cooed.

"High-five kid." Christian offered his son. They slapped hands and then Christian turned to smirk at me. I laughed at him. Dimitri stayed silent but had a half-smile on his face.

"Come on then you, little love bird. Time to go now." Mom instructed me. I gave Jayden a quick kiss goodbye, much to the amusement of our parents. God they were embarrassing.

Dimitri and Mom led me home hand-in-hand, they were so right together, like ying and yang. The sun was starting to rise, signalling the middle of the vampire night. I was tired so I decided to go up to bed.

"Night Mom," I said, hugging her.

"Night Dad," I whispered to Dimitri as her hugged me goodnight. He looked at me and smiled. That was the first time that I had ever called him 'Dad' and it felt right. Before things could get emotional I skipped up the stairs wondering how long it would take me to sleep because I was practically buzzing.


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: Did we like the last chapter? It's a lot easier for me to write in Violet's POV. Going back to Rose for this one. Let me know if you want more Violet, or another character :D**

"It's the day." I said sadly to Dimitri as we got out of bed.

"I know, Roza," He sympathised.

"Am I showing?" I said cradling my stomach, and looking in the mirror. Dimitri sighed at my worries.

"No Rose, you look beautiful," He assured me.

"So you're saying that I won't be beautiful when I am showing?" I teased him.

"I didn't say that, you'll look beautiful whatever," He said, flattering me. I smiled and kissed him, putting my arms around his neck.

"I love you." I said.

"I love you too," He replied, kissing me again. We got dressed and went downstairs, Dimitri started to cook a special breakfast for the kids' last day at home; they would be returning to St. Vladimir's tonight.

"Good morning," a happy voice sounded, Violet walked into the kitchen smiling at us. Ever since she had started dating Jayden she had been happy practically all the time. It was nice to see that, especially after all of the upset recently. I had been suspicious of their feelings for each other for a while anyway; it was to know that I hadn't lost my touch.

"Morning. You looking forward to school?" Dimitri asked her. She shrugged in response.

"I want to get back to training but I'll miss you guys. And it means that I have to keep an eye out for Caleb and Dais'." She said rolling her eyes.

"You don't _have _to look after us, you _choose_ to," Caleb disagreed walking into the room with Daisy following.

"What kind of a big sister would I be if I didn't?" She returned.

"A normal one," Daisy teased.

"Nothing's normal in our family," Caleb pointed out. We all laughed at that.

"So you guys are all packed?" I checked.

"I am," Daisy said. The other two nodded. I hated it when they had to back to school; sometimes I thought that it would be better if they just got trained here at court. I was going to miss them.

We spent the day all together as a family- Adrian included. Much to Violet's delight; Lissa's family came over for lunch as well. It was a nice day all-in-all. But eventually the time came to board the plane, Lissa's private plane to be exact. Me, Dimitri, Adrian, Lissa and Christian all travelled with them, we would probably spend a few hours at St. Vladimir's reliving our past; we did every year. Usually we looked around the classrooms and dorms to see what had changed. I always snuck away for a bit though; to visit the cabin. It used to refresh all my memories of Dimitri.

The plane journey seemed to go in minutes; we got off of it and breathed the good old St. Vladimir's air. Memories swarmed in my head already. I saw the Quad where I had once seen Mason's ghost and fought Dimitri and a few other Guardians during field experience, the day before he had been taken.

We walked over to the Dhampir dorms checking in our kids who were assigned new rooms. We said our goodbyes to our kids and Daisy was led over to the lower school dorms. Caleb was in the upper school dorms for the first time and he looked pretty happy about that. I tried to keep from crying as we walked away to meet with Lissa and Christian outside the Moroi dorm. Lissa too was trying not to cry.

We wandered around for a while, seeing parents that had been in our school year. Alberta was still working here as head Guardian and she greeted us and we had a catch up talk.

Before we were ready to go I took Dimitri's hand and led him in the direction of the cabin. He smiled when he realised where we were going.

"Do you remember?" I asked him when we were stood inside the door. He looked shocked.

"Of course I do, it was the best moment of my life before I was turned," He admitted. I smiled at him, remembering that perfect night, well, if there wasn't a Strigoi attack straight afterwards. He walked over to me and kissed me.

After Dimitri was taken I never thought that I would ever be as happy as I was that night; I was wrong though. I was happy now and when my children had been born, really I had had an amazing life. Especially now. Dimitri glanced at his watch.

"We should get back Roza; the plane leaves in about ten minutes," He said. I sighed, disappointed with the small amount of time that could spend in our cabin.

**AN: I know that it was a short and terrible chapter, don't lose interest though; it was a filler really. And because I'm the most horrible person in the world, I'm going to make a deal with you:**

**I want 10 reviews for this chapter, or you won't get the next one :O**

**Mean right? Sorry.**

**I mean it though, until I get 10 reviews no chapter 15. And it's a VPOV chapter. So review! ;D**


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: Because I'm the nicest person in the world I'll let you off. 7 reviews is good enough for me, and I'm quite pleased with this chapter. Review!**

**VPOV.**

I don't really know if I'm happy to be back at school or not; I'm actually missing Mom, Dad and Adrian. It's weird; usually I'm fine without them. Maybe it's that after all drama recently I want to help protect them, not that they need protecting. I'm happy to be back with my friends and training though. And Jayden and I have been spending loads of time together.

Me and my best friend and Ava were sat eating our lunch and discussing our holidays. She was talking about some summer romance that she'd had with some other Dhampir. Ava was a Dhampir like me and had been my best friend since the second grade when she transferred to St. Vladimir's from some other school in Vancouver.

"He was really hot," She gushed, brushing her shoulder length brown hair out of her face.

"I'm sure he was," I agreed.

"So, how was your holidays? Apart from the whole 'you dad came back from the undead' stuff and the attacks, you killed didn't you? I saw the _molnija _marks on your neck. Oh, and Jayden of course." She teased.

"How do you know about my Dad?" I asked, I hadn't told her anything about that yet; I hadn't had the chance.

"Are you kidding me? _Everyone _knows. It's a miracle really. It's been going round the school and the outside. My Dad told me about it." She informed me.

"Really? I would have thought the fuss would have been about my Mom and him getting engaged and now she's pregnant and everything." I said. Ava's eyes widened at the news.

"What about Adrian?" She asked clearly confused.

"They got divorced," I explained. She shot me a sympathetic look. I smiled at her, not wanting her to think that I had taken the divorce badly or anything.

"You live a crazy life Vi'," She stated.

"Tell me something I don't know," I laughed. Just then Jayden and a few of his friends came up to our table.

"Hey," He greeted us and then kissed me. I saw Ava smirking and shot her a glare.

"S'up?" Ava replied. Jayden slipped into the chair next to me and his friends followed his lead. They were probably the stereotypical popular guy group of St. Vladimir's. All of them were good-looking royal Moroi, Jayden being the leader as the son of the Queen. Most girls lusted after them, especially Jay, he was the hottest and richest, but he was mine.

One of Jay's mates, Logan, was checking Ava out. I caught her eye and winked looking in his direction. She blushed and looked away.

"How's your first day going?" Jay asked me.

"Good. Well, they aren't taking it easy on us because it's the first day. But I like it that way." I explained. "You?" I asked.

"Boring. I'm not gonna need most of this stuff when I leave here so I don't see the point of learning it." He complained.

"You never know," I disagreed. He rolled his eyes at me.

"Ever the boffin," he chuckled. I punched his arm lightly; he grabbed my hand and laced his fingers with mine.

"Violet! Ava!" A familiar voice came from behind me. Lucy, another one of my good friends had just spotted us. She was a royal Moroi, a Conta to be exact. She had long copper hair and bright blue eyes, inherited from her Ozera mother. I think she was a distant cousin of Jayden. She came over to us and hugged us both.

"Hey guys," She greeted the boys. Logan nodded to her and the other guy, Jamie, smiled flashing his fangs at her. She was a pretty royal Moroi; exactly the kind of girl that those two would go for. I turned my attention back to Jayden who kissed me.

"What was that for?" I asked giggling.

"Do I need an excuse now?" He teased.

"Nope. You feel free," I laughed. He kissed me again.

"Ugh, guys get a room," Ava called; we reluctantly pulled apart to seeher smirking at us.

"Jay," Jamie said, inclining his head at some other Moroi kid. Jayden nodded and stood up.

"I'll see you later," He said to me, bending down and kissing me again. I wondered what that was about. Ava shot me a questioning look as we watched the boys follow the other Moroi boy out of the cafeteria. I shrugged at her.

We left after we had finished our food, well, Ava finished hers; I had only had a doughnut, I developed my taste in food from my Mom.

We walked across campus back to our neighbouring rooms in the Dhampir dorms. About halfway I spotted Daisy hanging around with some of her friends.

"Dais'!" I called her. She turned and saw me and ran over.

"What are you doing around here?" I asked when she got over to us. She looked sheepish.

"Um, Amber wanted us to see if Jake and his friends would come back here," She blushed. Jake was in the year above me and was the_ hottest _Dhampir ever. Seriously. He was probably hotter than Jayden. There was not one girl in this school that hadn't had a crush on him at some point, there was no point in that though; he never dated anyone, he was way to serious about his training for that. He flirted and stuff though.

"You have a crush on Jake?" I asked her, slightly amused. She shook her head.

"No. Amber does." She defended herself.

"You sure?" I teased.

"Yes!" She protested.

"Okay." I backed down, knowing that she probably did. She hugged me goodbye and ran off to her friends again, waiting for Jake.

Ava and I continued up to our rooms. Me and Ava aren't that different, in personality anyway, we look completely different. She actually reminds me a lot of my Mom, which is kinda weird, but she does. She has the same kind of attitude and recklessness, she's protective and always cracking jokes, just like Mom when she was young. I guess were like Mom and Lissa were when they were our age except I wasn't very much like Lissa and we're both Dhampirs, but the prospect is the same.

I got all the stuff that I would need for class and made my way out of the dorm; Ava was getting changed so would take ages. I called my goodbye and left the dorm. On my way out I accidently bumped into someone.

"Sorry," I muttered.

"It's okay," I heard a familiar voice say; I looked up to see that it was Jake. He smiled at me making my insides melt, wow, he was _gorgeous._ "Violet Belikov right?" He asked. He was way taller than me and I was 5.10ft so I'm guessing that he was about 6.3ft. He had a bronzed complexion with light brown, spiky hair and dark eyes.

"Yer," I said, confirming my identity. He smiled down at me.

"I've heard a lot about you," He smirked. I frowned at him.

"Like what?" I asked, curious as to what the most popular kid in school would know about me.

"Lot's," he teased. "I'm Jake Sanchez by the way," He introduced himself offering me his hand, I shook it.

"Come on, what do you know about me?" I questioned him.

"Your Mom is Rose Hathaway, your Dad is Dimitri Belikov, your ex step-dad was Adrian Ivashkov. I'm right aren't I?" He said confidently.

"Um, yes. How do you know all that?" I asked, shocked that he even knew my name. He chuckled.

"I have my sources, and my Mom's one of the Queen's Guardians, she knows most of what happens at court." He admitted.

"Oh." Was all I could manage to say.

"You're dating Jayden right?" He asked.

"Yer." I said.

"He's a lucky kid. Before you started dating he told me that he liked you, I don't blame him," He informed me. I was still trying to process the fact that he had just called my boyfriend lucky because he was dating _me._

"You know him?" I asked.

"Yer, sometimes I go with my Mom to work at their house," He explained.

"Oh, how come I never see you?" I wondered. He laughed.

"I'm practising being neither seen nor heard," He chuckled. I smiled at his joke.

"Jake, let's go!" I saw one of Jake's friends approaching from behind us.

"I'll see you around Violet," He smiled and left. Wow. He just actually _talked _to me. Obviously Jayden was the only guy for me, but Jake was _hot._

"Vi', was that Jake I just saw walking off?" Ava asked, coming out of the dorm in her new outfit.

"Yer," I replied.

"Dibs on him, you have Jay," She joked. I laughed and linked her arm as we walked to our next lesson.

**AN: More VPOV. Do you like the next generation of St. Vladimir's students? Should I continue with this mixed in with some Rose? Or just Rose? Hope you liked :D**

**Review! ;D**


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Thanks for the reviews. A Rose chapter now but a Violet POV to follow, because I like writing about her ;D.**

**RPOV.**

I puked for about the fifth time this morning, Dimitri holding my hair and rubbing my back softly. I hate morning sickness. I stood up slowly, still feeling nauseous- not Strigoi induced though. Thankfully I don't there was anything left in my stomach to puke.

"Are you okay now, Roza?" Dimitri asked. I nodded at him reassuringly.

"Yer, just a bit nauseous," I answered. He took me in his arms, comforting me.

"Just think, in about eight month's time it'll all be worth it," He assured.

"Either that or I'll regret ever agreeing to have another baby," I joked. He smiled and shook his head at me.

"You'll never change Rose," He stated.

"Would you want me to," I pouted.

"I wouldn't change you for the world," He smiled. I stood on my tip-toes and kissed him. Unfortunately we were interrupted by the phone ringing. Dimitri grabbed it.

"Hello?" He said. Then held out the phone to me. "It's Lissa," he explained. I took the phone from him.

"Hey," I greeted.

"Rose, guess what!" She exclaimed.

"What?" I asked.

"Guess," she encouraged.

"Christian realised that his heart belonged to ballet and he ran off in a tutu to pursue his dream?" I joked. She sighed but I could tell that she amused through the bond.

"Just come over here," she ordered.

"Yes boss," I sighed and hung up the phone. Normally I would have checked the bond for what was going on but she was hiding it from me well. Over the years she had perfected the art of learning how to keep things from me when convenient.

"I have to go to Lissa's," I told Dimitri. He kissed me goodbye and I left, no bothering to drive, I just ran. When I got to the door the Guardians just aloud me straight in where Lissa was waiting.

"What's up?" I asked her.

"I just booked us a holiday!" She burst out.

"You did what?" I asked, extremely confused. We _never_ went on holiday, Lissa was always to busy.

"I booked us a holiday, for the four of us; me, you, Christian and Dimitri!" She said.

"Where?" I questioned. She grinned excitedly when I asked that.

"A private island around the Caribbean." She revealed. I gaped at her.

"How? You can't be in the sun that long," I pointed out.

"We'll go on a nocturnal schedule, and go on the beach at night with a few lights and we'll be fine," She enthused.

"When?" I asked.

"In two weeks, for two weeks," she replied.

"How many other Guardians are coming?" I checked.

"None, you and Dimitri can protect me and Christian. Besides, how many Strigoi are going to be on a private island with no people living on it?" She pointed out. That was true.

"Okay," I agreed, not finding anymore holes in her plan. She squealed with excitement and hugged me. I had to admit; I was pretty excited too.

About an hour later I returned home to Dimitri. He greeted me with a kiss.

"Hello," I said once we had broken apart.

"Hi." He returned. "So is everything okay with Lissa?"

"Yes, very good in fact," I said. He raised an eyebrow.

"How would you feel about going on holiday?" I pondered.

"Why? What have you and Lissa been planning?" He accused. I faked offence.

"It actually had nothing to do with me, it was all Liss'," I corrected him.

"Go on then, tell me the master plan," he commanded. I explained to him all the details.

"Sounds fun," he commented when I had finished.

"We can go?" I asked.

"Of course, you don't have to ask for my permission Rose," he said.

"I know, but I didn't want to drag you off to someplace that you don't want to be," I explained.

"Anywhere that you are Rose, I want to be," he murmured. I smiled and kissed him, pushing him up against a wall. He chuckled as I started to take his shirt off.

"You're a little keen aren't you," he teased, but didn't complain anymore.

**AN: Okay guys, sorry for another filler chapter. Hope you liked though. Holiday should be fun ;D**

**And I'm going to be mean again; 5 reviews or you don't get the next chapter :P**

**I mean it: review.**

**;D**


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: Well done; 5 reviews! Okay, we're checking back in on Violet now! :D**

**VPOV.**

I woke up with Jayden lying next to me. Shit. We had fallen asleep together last night, how the hell was I supposed to get him out of my room without being noticed? As soon as I moved Jay's eyes flitted open. He smiled when he saw me.

"We fell asleep right?" He said, clearly amused by the situation.

"Yup, now how are we going to get you out?" I asked. He raised his eyebrows.

"You in a hurry to get rid of me? What's the rush, it's Saturday," he pointed out. "I can sneak out later when the rest of the school is up and about," he declared. I nodded at his plan, lying back into his arms. He kissed the top of my head and started playing with a strand of my hair. He had done that a lot recently; it was weirdly comforting.

"Did you hear about Logan?" He asked me.

"No, what happened to him?" I replied.

"He asked out Ava yesterday."

"Really? I thought he only dated royals?" I questioned.

"Usually he does, usually we _all _do. Maybe I started a trend," he joked. I raised my eyebrows at him.

"A trend of falling in love with beautiful Dhampirs," he corrected himself. I chuckled at his excuse.

"What did Avie say?" I asked him. I had called Ava Avie ever since we first met, at first she hated her nickname but then she got used to it after I didn't stop calling her it.

"Um, I think that she was undecided, but I'm pretty sure that she likes him, isn't keeping guys waiting something that all you girls like to do?" He said curiously.

"No, not all girls. I didn't keep you waiting," I pointed out, sitting up in the bed.

"Yes you did. I had to wait for _ages _for some sort of sign that you liked me back," he informed me.

"Well I was waiting for your sign too," I protested.

"I'm a _dude_, I don't show emotions," he admitted.

"I know," I sighed. He chuckled and pulled me into him.

"Unless I'm with you of course," he confessed. I smiled and kissed him.

"I know," I murmured into his lips. He kissed me passionately and pulled me on top of him. I removed his boxers and he took off my bra and underwear. He pulled a condom out of my bedside cabinet- we had had to buy a few boxes of them.

Around half an hour later we finally got up had a shower and got dressed- Jayden forced to wear the same clothes as he did yesterday.

"You ready to sneak me out? If I get caught then I'm just going to say that you kidnapped me," he teased me.

"Don't worry, with my ninja skills; you'll be invisible," I joked, we both laughed. I was so comfortable around him and he was around me too, we just went together; like we were meant to be.

I lead him down the stairs and told him to wait while I distracted the person at the desk.

"See you later," he told me, giving me a quick kiss goodbye. I walked over to the man at the desk who turned to me instantly.

"How can I help?" He asked me.

"Um, well I was wondering if you had gotten any post for me recently?" I improvised.

"What's the name?" He questioned.

"Um, Violet Belikov," I answered, trying not to laugh. He bent down and rummaged through a box of post that hadn't been given out yet. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jayden run out of the foyer and out of the door. He blew me a quick kiss from behind the glass door and then ran off.

"There you go," the man said, handing me a letter. I hadn't expected there to actually be a letter for me.

"Er, thanks," I told the guy before wandering off outside to read it.

_To Violet,_

_Me, Dimitri, Lissa and Christian are going on holiday in about a week. Don't worry we'll have phones so the school can contact us if you need something. Can you tell Caleb and Daisy as well please? _

_See you soon._

_Love,_

_Mom x_

They were going on holiday without us. With a brief little letter to explain. I bet that meant that they were going somewhere awesome.

"Bitch," I muttered under my breath.

"Hope you aren't talking about me," someone said behind me. I spun round to see that it was Jake grinning down at me.

"Course not," I said, returning his smile.

"That's good. You had me worried for a minute," he teased. I laughed at him. "Who was it about?" He asked.

"Oh nobody," I lied.

"A problem shared is a problem halved," he pointed out. Why did he care?

"It was just my Mom, she's jetting off on holiday somewhere without us," I confessed. He chuckled.

"That's not very nice," he said.

"I know," I agreed.

"Hey have you had breakfast yet?" He asked. I shook my head. "You wanna come eat with me?" He questioned.

"Um, sure," I agreed. I didn't see any harm in eating breakfast with him. He smiled and started walking to cafeteria with me. To my complete satisfaction in the cafeteria were the schools most bitchy girls; they were mostly royal Moroi stood around all day bitching about people, partying, flirting with boys, sleeping with boys and bitching about the boys that they slept with at the parties. Ava and I avoided them like the plague, but today I was with Jake; who they all fancied. Each and every one of them shot glares at me as we walked in and they immediately started whispering between themselves.

"What's there problem?" Jake asked me when he spotted them. I shot him sceptical look. How could he not know? He just shrugged.

"They all fancy you and they're pissed that you came in with me," I explained. He laughed.

"Really? They don't look to nice," he snubbed them. I shot them a gloating look and received more glares back. Luckily I had been raised by the Queen of all death stares so their looks didn't faze me.

"You want to make them really jealous?" He asked slipping his hand into mine. I laughed at the girls' instantaneous reaction.

No doubt this rumour was going to spread around the school quickly. Shit. What if Jay heard it? Oh well, I would explain to him later, he would understand. Hopefully. If he didn't then I had some serious grovelling to do. Your girlfriend holding hands with the most sought after boy in school probably wasn't to be taken lightly.


	18. Chapter 18

**VPOV.**

As I had figured; Jayden didn't like the rumours that those pathetic bitches had started. I had sought him out after lunch and had found him on the quad with some friends; looking pretty pissed. He had reluctantly agreed to talk to me after a while.

"Look, you know how much I hate Katie and all her little wannabes; they were all in the cafeteria and they were pissed that I was stood next to Jake so we decided to make them jealous, by _holding hands_. It's not like we started making out of anything," I explained to Jayden for about the twentieth time. He flinched when I said the words 'making out', apparently not liking that image.

"_You_ didn't pull away though, even though _you _have a boyfriend," he snapped.

"It was only to make them jealous!" I exclaimed.

"It wasn't enough to just walk in with him?" He retorted. I knew that I was in the wrong and could understand his anger but I had inherited my Mom's tendency of never admitting when I was wrong.

"It was for about three seconds!" I reasoned. He seemed to calm a little at the brief time span. Clearly, the rumours had been intensified; Jay had probably heard that we had been undressing each other in the middle of the cafeteria.

"And that was it?" He questioned.

"Yes!" I exclaimed.

"You sure that there's nothing going on between you? Jake doesn't usually touch girls, let alone actually hold their hands," He stated. I gave him a glare that Mom had taught me and he paled slightly. "Okay, I believe you and I'm sorry," he backed down. I smiled at him and he hugged me tightly.

"I'm sorry too," I apologised. He hugged me even tighter.

"I just don't want to lose you Vi'," he admitted.

"You won't. I promise," I vowed. He leant down and kissed me.

"I love you," He said.

"I love you too," I replied. He kissed me again and then let me go.

"I think Ava wants you," he said, looking behind me. I turned around to see Ava stood waiting for me.

"I'm going to go see her," I said before kissing him.

"Bye," he smiled. I think I was forgiven. I walked over to Ava who was looking at me expectantly.

"What?" I asked her.

"He forgave you then?" She questioned.

"Yer, it wasn't like I actually did that much anyway," I defended myself. She frowned at me.

"I heard that you started making out with him. If I was Jayden; I wouldn't be too impressed with that," she stated.

"What?" I exclaimed. "He held my hand for about three seconds that was _it," _I ethicised.

"That's not what I heard," I said. I couldn't believe that she was even questioning me about this. She was my best friend, she should believe in me no matter what.

"And who did you hear that off?" I snapped, becoming angry with her. She looked sheepish.

"Bree," she mumbled. I smirked at her, knowing that I had caught her out. Bree was one of the group of girls that had seen Jake and I, she was also one of Jayden's exes, giving her even more reason to spread shit about me.

"Well, it's nice to know that my own best friend has so much faith in me," I said, sarcasm dripping off of every word.

"I do, it's just that Jake seems to really like you; so it's not that unbelievable," she protested.

"Jake does _not _like me. And even if he did; I love Jayden, so it wouldn't even matter," I argued back. I saw Ava start to back down.

"It's not like it stopped you last time," she said coldly. I flinched at her words. She may as well have slapped me in the face for all the hurt that gave me. I glared at her, she had crossed the line.

"That was different and you know it was," I shouted.

"Oh yer? How?" She snapped back. The self control that I always tried to keep started to bend and I knew I wouldn't be able to control myself for much longer. I eyed her, my anger growing at her smirk, what the hell had gotten into her?

"Fuck you," I said emotionlessly and walked off in the opposite direction, fuming. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a person stood in the shadows made by the lights, apparently looking at me. The figure didn't look like it was my age but I couldn't see it clearly enough to guess. Instead I just kept n walking up to my room, wanting to talk to someone, like my Mom. I couldn't contact her though, not unless there was an emergency, and I doubted that the man at the desk would see this as one.

I sat in my room and cried for a while but got myself together eventually. I had control just like my Dad; unfortunately my temper was like my Mom's, so it was pretty hard to keep under wraps. A soft knock at my door brought me back from inside my head.

"Vi'?" Caleb's voice came through the door. "It's just us. Can we come in?" he asked.

"Come in," I called. Not bothering to ask who 'us' was. Caleb came into my room closely followed by Daisy who came and sat on my bed with me. Caleb sat down on the desk chair and looked at me. "What's up?" I asked them.

"We were just wondering how you are. Amber heard the fight with Ava," Daisy explained. Caleb nodded in agreement.

"I'm fine," I said flatly, not meeting their eyes.

"You sure?" Caleb asked. "Amber told us that Ava said some stuff that you didn't take very well," he stated. I knew that he was referring to what happened, but I didn't want to talk about that, especially not to my little brother.

"I'm fine," I repeated. "I bet Amber didn't take the rumours to well," I teased Daisy, to lighten the mood.

"She doesn't really like you anymore. She said that Jake probably didn't even like you and that you had just thrown yourself at him," she informed me honestly. I snorted at the 'thrown yourself at him' part.

"Trust me Dais'; I did _not_ throw myself at him," I told her. I felt bad that she might have a crush on Jake and then I had heard all the stupid rumours about me and him.

"So what _is_ going on between you two?" She asked me.

"Nothing," I stated. "We're just friends. In fact; we aren't even that. I've only spoken to him twice," I told her, trying to reassure her slightly.

"That's more than he talks to most girls," Caleb stated. I glared at him for a second for him to get the message. "Have you spoken to Jayden yet?" He asked me.

"Yes, he's okay about it," I replied.

"What about Jake? Have you talked to him about it yet?" Daisy questioned.

"No. Why would I have?"

"Because he might help you to clear up the rumours and stuff," she stated simply. I looked over at the clock and sighed.

"Right, I'm going to bed now. See you guys tomorrow," I told them. They stood up and hugged me goodbye before walking out of my room.

I loved my room, it wasn't immaculately decorated or anything, but it was mine. It was painted a pale pink colour and was very minimal. There were twin beds that would have both been filled once, but due to decreasing female novice numbers; I had the room to myself. Which was good for me as I took up the entire wardrobe and draws with my clothes; let's just say that Adrian's credit card and I were good friends.

The bathroom was filled with my makeup and stuff and the desk was piled high with my school books as well as some photos. There was a picture of Ava and me when we had been training in the gym, a picture of my Mom with Caleb and Daisy at the beach, a picture of Adrian and me at Christmas, a picture of Dad and Mom that I had taken before I left, one of Lissa with Christian and Grace and a picture of Jayden and me. My favourite people in the world, even if I wasn't particularly happy with some of them right now. I sighed and got ready for bed, falling asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I woke up feeling very little better than I had the day before. I got up and put on some training clothes; wanting to get in some practise before breakfast, as well as wanting to punch something to let my anger out.

The gym was empty when I got down there, well, almost empty. I saw some younger kids sparring in the corner. I took to the dummies, punching and kicking them as hard as I could.

"Violet? Whoa, you need to slow down," someone warned from behind me. I span round to see Jake frowning down at me. I hadn't realised quite how hard I'd been working until I noticed how laboured my breathing was and that a layer of sweat had formed over my skin. Jake looked good in his training kit, he had on a black vest and training shorts that showed off his bulging muscles well. His dark eyes looked down at me and I couldn't help it but my heart fluttered a little at his gaze. "You okay?" He checked.

"Yer, I'm fine, just training," I told him, meeting his eyes. A weird electric type shock ran through me as I did and I immediately looked away. "What are you doing down here?" I asked him.

"I wanted to get some training done," he answered simply. "You?"

"Same. Training helps me to calm down," I explained. He arched an eyebrow.

"Why do you need to calm down?" He questioned.

"I had a fight with Ava, about you actually. Well, kind of," I said, not sure why I was telling him that.

"About me? Why?" He said.

"Because she believed the rumours that got told yesterday."

"She did? They were pathetic, I really don't like those girls," He said. I took some pleasure in the fact that he didn't like them any more than I did. "I'm not trying to butt in on the situation, but since I'm already in it; I wonder what kind of a best friend believes some stupid girls over their best friend," he pointed out. I knew he was right but Ava didn't usually do that, something was different about her yesterday.

"She mentioned some stuff that we don't talk about, _ever. _It's like a silent rule between us," I admitted. I really had no idea why I was telling him any of this, for some weird reason; I trusted him, even though I hardly knew him.

"Like what?" He asked. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want too, I just want to help," he told me. Tell him? For some weird reason I wanted to talk about it, I never spoke about it to anyone. Especially not my family or people that I hardly knew. Only about six people knew my secret Ava, Caleb and Jayden being three of them; Caleb was the only person in my family that knew. I shook my head at Jake, I couldn't tell him, not yet.

"Why do you want to help me?" I asked him. He shrugged and then frowned, I doubted that he even knew.

"I don't know. I guess, I don't know, that maybe I like you," he admitted. I didn't see that one coming. The weird shock went through me again as I looked up at him.

"I, um, are you sure?" I asked, not sure what to say. He nodded slowly.

"It's weird; I don't usually care much about dating girls, but you? You're different. I really like you," he confessed. His eyes locked into mine and the shock ran through me, I knew what it was now though; I liked him too.

**AN: Review please! :D **


	19. Chapter 19

**RPOV.**

I rummaged around my room trying to remember everything that we would need. I already had one suitcase filled to the brim.

"Rose, why are you packing already?" Dimitri asked me, entering the room with two mugs in his hands.

"I want to be organised," I replied, taking one of the mugs from him. He chuckled at me.

"Rose Hathaway? Organised? Since when?" He teased me. I shot him a playful glare.

"I thought maybe I should try it. You know me Comrade, always one to try something new," I joked back. "How many T-shirts do you want?" I asked him.

"Um, is there a washing machine?" He questioned, still smirking.

"I don't know. But I'm not doing any washing. You want it then you can do it yourself," I told him.

"Now there's the Rose that I know," he chuckled. I punched his arm lightly. "Seven" He decided. I walked over to his side of our dressing room- his 'half' being more like his little space that my clothes weren't covering- and picked seven shirts for him. Seven seemed rather excessive considering that I would probably encourage him to go shirtless most of the time. I walked back into the bedroom with the T-shirts and put them into a suitcase.

"You know; I feel bad for going on holiday without the kids," I said. Dimitri walked over to me and hugged me tightly.

"Technically, you're bringing one," he said, gently placing a hand on my stomach. I looked up at him and smiled, he was going to be an amazing father, he already was to the others, but he gets the whole experience with this one.

"When we come back from this holiday it should be time for me to have my first scan," I informed him.

"It's going fast isn't it? Maybe we should start thinking about names," he said. "What names would you like?" he asked me. I shrugged.

"For a boy or for a girl?" I asked.

"Either."

"Which do you want?"

"I don't mind," he said smiling at me. I started to think about potential names for my child. "Maybe something Russian?" Dimitri suggested. I pondered that idea, it would be nice to have a Russian name, it'd be like carrying on Dimitri's legacy.

"I think a Russian name would be good," I agreed. "Do you have any Russian baby name books in your collection?" I teased him.

"No, not unless they're Russian cowboys," he chuckled. I loved our easy banter.

"I guess we'll have to rely on the internet then," I said. "What about DJ for a boy? As in Dimitri Junior" I suggested, not really being serious. Dimitri arched an eyebrow.

"DJ Belikov?" He chuckled. I fell about laughing at that, poor kid, no doubt it would have been teased about that name.

"I don't know Russian names, so you'll have to find some," I told him.

"Yes boss," he teased me again. He picked me up like I weighed nothing and kissed me before pulling me into a tight hug. Over Dimitri's shoulder I could see out of the window, in the shadows about thirty metres away from our house I swear that I could see a figure looking up at us. Before I could investigate further the figure disappeared and Dimitri started to kiss me again, clearing all negative thoughts from my head.

**AN: Yer I know, shortest chapter ever. It was another filler really, just wanted to see how Rose and Dimitri were getting on :D**

**Please review, it will make me happy.**


	20. Chapter 20

**VPOV.**

Oh great. This was just what I needed; I was finally happy with Jayden so then I go and start falling for some other guy. For God's sake! I'm so stupid!

After I had realised that I liked Jake in the gym I had made some lame excuse about needed to get back to room and ran off. I had spent the past five hours holed up in my room thinking my plan of action. At the moment I had nothing. Jayden had always been one of my best friends and I did love him, I just didn't know _how_ I loved him. And then there was Jake, gorgeous, mysterious, oblivious Jake; he was just so different and I _really_ liked him, like I was falling for him already and I barely knew him.

I sighed and fell back into my bed, I needed to talk to my Mom or even Dad, anyone. Usually I would have Ava to talk this out with but I didn't even want to see her at the moment. How _dare_ she mention that? She was supposed to be my best friend; I expected to be judged on _that_ by other people, but not her. God knows that it's the biggest regret of my life. Well, he would if I believed in him. I'm not Atheist but I don't go to church of anything- I inherited that from Mom, and apparently Dad too.

I need my Mom right now- as pathetic as that sounds, I do. Maybe the person at the desk would let me give her a quick call. It was worth a try.

I ran down the stairs to the desk, an old woman was sat there doing some paperwork; she glanced up when I approached and raised her eyebrows at my messy appearance. I ignored her glance.

"Hey, can I call home please?" I asked her, not wasting any time. She frowned at me.

"Do you have an emergency?" She questioned.

"You could say that," I said. To me it was an emergency; I doubt the school would consider it one though. The woman frowned at me again and studied my face, I had been crying so probably had puffy eyes.

"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. I have to go and run some errands and should be back in about fifteen minutes, I want you off the phone when I get back," she warned.

"Thanks," I said as I walked around the desk to the phone. I dialled the numbers and it rang for a little while before Dad picked it up.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Hey Dad, is Mom around?" I greeted him.

"Um yes, she's in the kitchen. Are you okay?" He checked. I took comfort even in just his low, soothing, accented voice.

"Yer, I'm okay. I just need to talk to Mom about something," I lied. Sensing that I was bending the truth Dimitri asked no more questions and passed the phone to Mom.

"Hey sweetie, what's up?" She greeted me.

"It's quite hard to explain," I said, starting to chicken out of telling her.

"What is it?" She asked, I could tell that she was becoming curious now.

"I... I'm dating Jayden, it's just... I really like somebody else as well," I explained. I told my Mom everything, even about the fight with Ava, but not what it was about though. Mom listened the whole time and only gave input when I asked for it. She asked me questions that I hadn't even thought to ask myself, like; 'Do you love Jayden out of loyalty?' That question struck me the most as I had no idea how to answer it, did I?

Unfortunately the desk lady kept to her word and returned after about fifteen minutes of talking to Mom, she raised her eyebrows at me expectantly.

"Okay Mom, I have to go now, thank you for helping me. I love you," I said.

"Okay, bye sweetie, good luck. I love you too," she finished and I hung-up the phone, handing it back to the woman.

"Thanks," I said to the lady before running off towards the Moroi dorm. I had to tell Jayden the truth, he deserved that much. I ran all the way up too Jay's room and knocked on his door softly, my hands were shaking slightly so I clenched my fists in attempt to hide my nervousness.

Jayden opened the door and smiled when he saw me. He gave me a gesture to come in and I complied, walking across his messy room to sit on his bed. Luckily, his roommate Brody wasn't around so we could have some privacy.

"What's up?" Jay' asked, sitting down beside me.

"I just got off the phone to my Mom..." I started. He gave me a concerned look.

"Is she okay?" He asked.

"Yer, she's fine, don't worry," I said quickly. "We were actually talking about me." I said and his concern grew.

"Why? What's up with you?" He questioned. I sighed and prepared myself for my answer.

"You know that I will always love you right?" I told him. He frowned at me probably wondering what I was getting at.

"Right. And I'll always love you too," he replied.

"It's just; I like another guy as well. So, I think that the best thing for me is that we break up," I announced. My heart thumping hard. The look of hurt on his face was enough to bring me to tears.

"Do you love him?" He asked me, I could tell that he was about to cry.

"No. Not yet. But I'm falling for him, I can feel it. I don't want to hurt you anymore," I sobbed. Despite our situation he pulled me into him and held me tightly while I cried into his chest. "I'm sorry Jay," I said, pulling away from him.

"Who is he?" He said stiffly, standing up and facing me. "Who's the guy?"

"Jayden..." I started but he interrupted me.

"Just tell me who he is Vi'!" He snapped at me.

"It's Jake," I replied quietly, avoiding Jayden's gaze. I still caught his look of complete fury though.

"Jake! I should have fucking known! That bastard! What, was he moving in on you behind my back? How far have you gone with him?" He exploded. He threw a glass across the room and it smashed into hundreds of pieces about ten metres away from me. I sank back into his bed, slightly scared at Jay's anger.

"I haven't done anything with him, except when I held his hand in the cafeteria. He wasn't moving in on me, I swear," I protested.

"Bullshit," he spat.

"Jay..." I tried to reason with him. "Please just calm down. I don't want us to fight," I pleaded with him. He eyed me for about ten seconds before starting to take deep breaths and sitting down beside me again and taking both my hands in his.

"I'll do you a deal; we take a break, for however long you need to sort your feelings out. If you decide that you don't want me anymore then I'll accept and it we can go back to just being friends. Okay?" He reasoned. I nodded slowly, that was a good idea.

"What do we tell everyone else?" I asked him.

"The truth," he said simply. "That we're on a break, you don't have to say why though."

"Okay," I agreed and hugged him tightly. We sat there for a while, just holding each other.

"Is this how it was with Brett?" He asked me. I flinched at the name and looked up at Jayden, confused as to why he mentioned someone that I never could. "When you broke up, when he found out, what actually happened?" He pushed me again. The memories swamped me of that horrible night, the night when Brett had finally found out the truth and confronted me. I flinched again.

"No. This is nothing like that," I answered, keeping my voice as level as possible.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking guilty that he brought the subject up.

"It's okay. I'm over that now and so are they," I told him. In truth I would never be over it, but I had to be strong.


	21. Chapter 21

**VPOV.**

I sat in my room reminiscing that horrible night that constantly haunted me. Poor, poor Brett, he had even transferred schools afterwards. It was a miracle that nobody besides him, Jayden and Ava noticed the change in my behaviour, if the teacher had found out... I shivered at that thought.

A loud bang on my door made me practically jump through the roof; I walked over and opened the door cautiously; half expecting an angry Jayden to storm in. It wasn't though; it was Jake and he didn't look too happy.

"Uh, hey," I greeted him, unsure as to why he was here. "Come in," I told him and he walked in and stood against one of the walls.

"What's going on with you and Jayden? He suddenly just came out of nowhere and accused me of taking advantage of you!" He exclaimed. Shit. Jayden and his stupid temper. I walked back over to my bed and sat down warily.

"What did you say to him?" I asked.

"I told him that I hadn't and that we hadn't done anything, obviously," he stated. "What did you say to him?" He asked me.

"Me and Jayden are on a break," I admitted. He looked at me, his expression turning from slightly angry to sympathetic.

"Why?" He questioned, his voice now soft.

"Because I confessed that I liked someone as well as him," I said, avoiding his eyes. He was looking at me suspiciously.

"Who's the other guy Violet?" He said. I could feel the blood rushing to my face. Great. Of all the things that I could do, I blushed; probably giving it away. I looked away from him. He walked over to the bed and sat down beside me. "Vi'?" He asked, wanting my confirmation. I nodded and managed to drag my eyes to his face.

"Yes. It's you. Okay?" I confessed to him. He eyes locked with mine and he smiled slightly.

"Well that's good, because I like you too," he said, still with a half smile on his face. He leant forward and kissed me softly. It felt like the world exploded around me and sparks flew everywhere. My heart was thumping hard against my rib-cage.

After a little while he pulled away. I frowned at him. "Earlier, with Jayden; he said something about a guy called Brett. Is he something to do with your secret?" He asked. I was going too murder Jayden. I nodded slowly.

"You can trust me Violet," he promised, staring into my eyes. I figured that I might as well tell him.

"I don't want you to think different of me though; I regret it so much," I told him.

"I won't judge you," he said simply, and I believed him.

"It was at the start of last year; I started dating Brett, he was a popular Dhampir and he loved me. I did like him, I just... liked someone else more; Oscar Lazar. I feel completely in love with him and would have done _anything _for him; we started an affair because I couldn't bring myself to dump Brett and Oscar liked the games. One day we were, um, getting quite passionate in his room and just out of nowhere; he bit me. He took quite a lot of blood and I loved it. The high was amazing and Oscar loved it too; so we started to do it a lot, I became his personal blood whore." I shuddered at my words and Jake took my hands in his, reassuring me. "But, Oscar told some of his friends who told Brett and we broke up. His mates started to want my blood so I gave it to them, I didn't even care. Luckily, it didn't spread around the school. It's a miracle that no teachers or anyone found out, I was high most of the time and my grades dropped loads. Then I went home for Christmas and my Mom asked what was up with me; I couldn't stand being away from the bites, I was as bad as a feeder. But my Mom, I always wanted her to be proud of me, so I stopped. It took time and I was still addicted but I stopped," I fished, tears pouring down my cheeks. Jake just stared at me for awhile.

"When was your last bite?" He asked me.

"Just after we came back for Christmas, I slipped up once. Oscar moved schools, thank God," I breathed.

"It's okay," Jake told me. "I don't mind." He wrapped his arms around me and I cried silently into his chest for hours.


	22. Chapter 22

**RPOV.**

"No! Dimitri no!" I squealed as he tickled me, attempting to get me in a good position to dunk me under the waves. We were shoulder-deep in the beautiful blue sea, well; _I_ was shoulder-deep, Dimitri was more waist-deep. He had picked me up and was attempting to dunk me; I was putting up quite a struggle though. I wriggled my arms and legs enough that he almost dropped me but then re-found his hands and caught me again; pushing me under the water before I had time to react. I came up from beneath the surface and pulled Dimitri down with me. I held him down for a while before returning to the surface of the water, gasping for air.

He looked down at me and chuckled, moving the hair that was stuck to my face. I cupped his face in mine and pulled him down towards me so that I could kiss him. He immediately complied and kissed me passionately. One of my hands moved to the back of his head, tangling my fingers into his hair.

"Oi! lovebirds!" A voice called from the shore. "Save that for your villa, you're ruining the view."

I reluctantly pulled away from Dimitri and turned to Christian who was smirking at us. Lissa stood behind him grinning at me and looking slightly embarrassed. "It's our vacation too Sparky," I shouted back. "If you don't like it then you can go somewhere else." I said, giving him a rude gesture. He pretended to look hurt at my gesture but his expression soon dissolved back into its normal smirk. "Where were we?" I asked Dimitri as sexily as I could. He gave me an exasperated laugh but I could tell it worked as he pulled me back into an embrace.

**AN: I really sorry about how short that was and how long it took to update. I've been really busy recently though.**

**Please review!**


	23. Chapter 23

**AN. Sorry guys, I haven't undated in ages! I've been really busy though. I hope you like it :D**

**VPOV.**

Slowly, his kiss became more and more intense. I responded eagerly, pulling off his shirt and admiring his body. I didn't want to go too fast though, I didn't want the moment to be over quickly, I wanted to be with him like that forever.

Well, that was what I had thought anyway.

Aside from Strigoi, Oscar Lazar was probably the single thing that I hated most in the world. He sickened me. I couldn't even bare to look at a picture of him. The facts were simple really:

I had loved him and he had used me and taken away nearly a year of my life that I would never get back. My training had been despicable; I was surprised that they didn't ring my mom or anything. I was out of it most of the time, hardly even managing a half-decent punch.

One thing I did owe Oscar though; was my dedication to becoming a Guardian. Him and my parents that is, including Adrian. One thing in my life that I was certain of was my future in being the best Guardian that I could be. I already had three Strigoi kills under my belt and I hadn't even graduated yet.

I knew only four others that understood my commitment to my duty; my mom, my dad, Caleb and Jake.

Since the night that I had told Jake about Oscar we had been spending most of our time together, and our duty was a subject that we often discussed. Especially since it was an important factor in our lives.

Technically, we weren't actually dating and we didn't kiss or anything but there was a definite closeness and maybe even the beginnings of love between us. I hadn't quite worked out what the identity of the barrier preventing us from being together was yet, but I highly suspected, my duty, my past and quite possibly; Jayden.

I did love Jayden; there was no question about that. But, recently I had come to realise that maybe my love was out of loyalty to him and that I loved him much more like a brother.

I wandered from the gym to the quad with a bunch of other novices, most of which I was close too. Aside from one; Ava. The only exchange that I had had with her over the past month was some fleeting glares. There was nothing that I wanted to say to her.

Today, she was smiling and flirting with the lads as usual. The weird thing was, she was smiling at _me._ I gave her a suspicious glance and edged away from the group slightly in an attempt to avoid her.

To my dismay, she fell into step beside me. I pointedly ignored her glance and carried on walking without acknowledging her. "So, I hear you and Jake are on?" She said. I turned slightly towards her, trying to understand her game.

"No." I said stiffly.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." I quickened my pace in an attempt to get away from her but she only matched my speed.

"Look, Vi', what happened between us? You were my best friend. You _are_ my best friend. It's horrible without you. I miss you so much."

I eyed her, wondering how genuine she was. This was the first time she had even approached me since the fight that we had, if she really 'missed me so much' then surely she would have apologised sooner. In fact, she hadn't even apologised at all.

"Really? That's great," I told her dryly. I didn't need her anymore. I was fine with what I had. She was no best friend. Ava shot me a hurt look and then frowned.

"Vi'," she moaned. "I'm sorry for bringing up the past, okay? I don't want it to come between us."

We had stopped walking now and were facing each other. A few of the other novices had noticed what was going on between us and had started to gather round.

"It's too late," I said flatly.

"Just one more chance," she pleaded.

"No. You shouldn't need a second one."

I turned and started to walk away while some boys make some cat noises behind me. "You're such a bitch. You know that Violet?" I heard Ava call from behind me. Gathering all my self control I kept walking. "You pretend that you're perfect with your big house, your royal links, your hot boyfriends and your Strigoi kills. But you're a slut! Wait, no; I was wrong, that's not you is it? _You're a bloodwhore."_

Her words cut into me like knives in my back and my self-control snapped completely. I spun around to see her smirking at me, she had been walking as I had and was only about two metres away. Before she had time to react I spun around and slapped her hard on the cheek. "Stay away from me. I made mistakes, I'll admit that. But you? You're pathetic. Your life revolves around bitching about people that haven't done anything to you and flirting with boys that you mean nothing to." I spat at her. My words were harsh, but no less than she deserved.

A cruel look crossed her face as she clutched her now scarlet cheek. "At least I didn't have an affair with Oscar whilst dating another boy. Only to end up his blooodwhore. At least I was addicted to vampire endorphins." She spoke loudly, more to the crowd than to me who gasped and stared.

"Whoa, Violet, is that true?" Brad, one of the other novices said. Everyone else just gawped at me. I gave Ava a glare worthy of my mother and had the satisfaction of watching her pale slightly, well, aside from her red cheek.

I didn't really know what to say to the spectators, whether to confirm or deny my relationship with Oscar. I knew that if I didn't say anything then Ava would quickly twist the story and spread it around the school. "Yeah, it's true," I said flatly. "I had an affair with Oscar and I let him and some of his friends take my blood, I was addicted and weak. But I'm not anymore."

The last thing that I said was more to Ava than anyone else and she knew it. She took a steady step back and started to walk away, ushering Brad along with some of the other novices to follow her. Instead of complying, Brad walked over to me and placed a hand reassuringly on my shoulder whilst the others followed suit. Ava gaped at them for a second before returning to a glare.

"That's fine, you hang with the slut then. You won't be for long though; she only likes boys with a bite."

She gave a parting glare and stormed off back towards the gym. Strangely, I didn't even care much that I had truly lost her as a friend now. I had always thought that I needed her to be friends with me. But now I realised what a bitch she really was.

I continued training with the other novices for a little while before walking over to my dorm to get changed. Waiting outside my door, however, was Jayden. He stood leaning against the wall in his usual designer jeans and shirt. His hair was its messy self and a lopsided grin adorned his face.

"Jay?" I acknowledged him.

"Violet," he nodded. "Can I come in?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure."

I unlocked and pushed open the door to my room, allowing Jay to duck under my arm, he made it look remarkably graceful considering his height. He strolled in a sat down at my desk chair, clearly still very comfortable in my company. I pondered the possible reasons for his visit and prayed that it not be he wanted us to get back together. "What's up?" I said after settling myself on the bed. He looked over at me with a sympathetic look.

"Everyone knows Vi'," he said slowly, referring to Oscar.

"Yeah, I kinda realised that already," I said dryly.

"Who told them?"

"Ava."

"Ava?"

"Ava." I said flatly.

"But, why?" He asked, clearly dumbfounded.

"Because she hates me. You know the weird thing? I don't even care. Not about her or about the not-so-secret," I explained.

"I never liked her."

I chuckled at him. "Yes you did, you told me that you were glad that I had someone like her to talk to as well as you once."

"I was lying." He defended.

"Is that what you came here for?"

"Yeah. Well, and the fact that I haven't seen you much recently. I miss you Vi'," he confessed. I gave him a frown, trying to tell him that it was difficult for me to see him now that we weren't together and I was nearly with Jake. "I mean, I know that you're moving on with Jake and everything but you're still my best friend. Especially since Ava isn't."

I gave him a smile and walked over to where he was sat, pulling him to his feet and hugging him tightly. "I miss you too," I said honestly.

"Best friends?" He said holding out his pinkie for me to hook.

"Best friends," I agreed, hooking his pinkie with mine and kissing my finger. Jayden did the same to his own finger and looked back at me, giving a grin.

"I will always love you, Violet," he promised. I looked away shyly before meeting his gaze again.

"You know that I'll always love you too. Just, not like that anymore," I sighed. He smiled again and pulled me back into a hug.

"I know," he whispered.


	24. Chapter 24

**VPOV.**

"Jake?" I whispered to him. I was lying on his bed with him, my head rested on his chest. I could hear his heart thudding against my cheek which made mine also speed up. I could feel that his hand was tangled into my hair and that he was softly rubbing circles on my scalp with his thumb.

"Yeah?" He whispered back, leaning his head slightly so that his lips rested on the top of my head.

"Do you think I'm a slut?"

I tilted my head up to his so that I could look him in the eye. His almost-black eyes bore into mine and I shiver sent down my spine. His facial expression changed into a frown.

"Why would I think that? I think that you made a bad decision. But you came up from it, not many could have done that. I think that you're a lot of things Violet, but not a slut."

"A lot of things, huh? Like what?" I teased, immediately getting over my worry of his opinion of me. Jake's face twisted back into a playful smile as he held me into him tighter.

"Where to start Vi', where to start. Hmm. Well, I think that you're ugly, fat and horrible to be honest. I don't even know why I'm here with you," he laughed, putting on mock disgust. I punched him lightly in the chest. Quickly, he grabbed my wrist and then the other one and skilfully flipped me onto my back so that he was on top of me. He pinned my wrists against my head and put his full body weight onto me in order to keep me down. "How _dare _you?" He said, keeping his teeth ground together as he did, giving him a very fierce yet hilarious look.

"I-I-I'm so sorry, J-J-Jake," I replied, faking horror. His mouth twisted into a grin and he loosened his grip on my wrists a little.

"You better be. Or you'll pay Belikov," he warned. I let out a laugh and attempted to free my wrists from his hold. That only made him hold them tighter again though. I looked back into his eyes and saw him staring at me. I could see swarming emotions in his eyes, lust taking the predominant position. My heart thumped against my chest and I felt my breathing quicken under his gaze. They're was so much heat in both my body and his expression that was almost driving me mad with want and passion. His lips parted slightly as though he wanted to say something.

"I think that you're the beautiful thing that ever existed. I think you're funny and clever and kind and determined. And... I think that... I think that I love you."

His words sent me crazy, so much so that any self control towards keeping a distance from him was completely burned. I loved him. Oh god, I loved him.

I never thought it possible to fall so head over heels in just over two months, but I had. I could see that he felt the same and he lowered himself slightly, his lips parted. I could see his uncertainty about my reaction to him kissing me so I decided to do the rest of the work.

I gently pulled my wrists from his grip and placed them around his neck, pulling myself up until I was only an inch from his face. I looked into his face to confirm that it was what he wanted. His mouth changed into a half-smile and he pressed his lips to mine.

Electricity burned though me as I kissed him back, my lips moving in time to his. The kiss became more and more intense, my tongue tracing his lips and then entering his mouth. Jake's hands moved so that one rested in the curve of hip and the over on my ass.

I lifted the edge of his shirt slightly and he shifted slightly so that I could pull it over his head. My eyes wondered to his lean, chizzled muscles. His skin was a beautiful bronze colour, like the kind of tan that a teenage Moroi would die for.

Jake followed my lead and put his hands underneath my back where the zip to my floral-print dress was. I leaned upwards so that he could unzip it, re-making contact with his mouth. He pulled the dress off me gently and left me in only a deep-purple lace bra and matching panties. I saw his eyes wonder to down to my body, lingering on my breasts.

We continued for hours, making love in the heat of it all. It was beautiful and, so, so perfect.

"Um, Jake? Don't take this the wrong way but... Was that your first time?" I said awkwardly. He sat on the bed whilst I pulled on my clothes. He looked up at me and half-smiled.

"No, my fourth. But those were insignificant compared to you."

"This might be really nosey, but; do I know any of them?" I took immense satisfaction to be the only 'significant' person that he had had sex with though. I saw him immediately shift his eyes away from me, desperately trying to find something else to look at.

"Uh, yeah. You might."

I raised my eyebrows at him and he cracked. "Um, Naomi Dane, Jennifer Avery, Louise Perez and uh... Constance Voda." He said. I saw him tense up at the last name, probably scared of my reaction.

Constance Voda was probably one of the biggest bitches that I had ever met in my life. She was the ring leader of the girls that had first spread the ring leaders about Jake and I. She liked to pretend that she was far more important than she really was and slept around an awful lot. It was a wonder she hadn't gotten pregnant yet.

I realized that I had frozen at Constance's name and that Jake was waiting for another response. "Constance? What on earth possessed you to do that?"

He looked away sheepishly. "I was drunk and high, she wanted it." He answered.

"Ugh, poor you." I said, realising that sleeping with a bitch was nothing on my past. Picking up that I wasn't mad, Jake grabbed a hold of me and pulled my mouth down to his.

"You don't have to go just yet do you?" He said suggestively. I cracked a smiled and arched an eyebrow.

"Not quite yet."

**Okay guys, I hope you liked that chapter. I stopped going into so much detail as I figured it might be getting a little X-rated ;)**

**Please review! :DDD**


	25. Chapter 25

**RPOV.**

We were being watched. At first I thought it just some kid messing about, or some sort of coincidence. But now we where sat on a private island, and the stalker was too.

The stalker was clearly not Strigoi or Moroi—it out in broad daylight. That left Dhampir or human, most likely Dhampir seeing as how it had been around the court.

"Can you think of any reason why they'd want to see what you're doing?" Christian asked, his face serious for once.

"I can't. I mean, yeah, I've made a couple of enemies over the years, but I buried the hatchet with most. And if I haven't then they're in prison somewhere," I considered. "Have you?" I asked Dimitri.

"No, not as a Dhampir. But plenty as a Strigoi," he gave an involuntary flinch, "I mean, you fight with everyone; it's in your nature."

"You think they could be after you? What for?"

He shrugged. "Many, many things, but none really worth travelling to the U.S for."

Lissa took one of my hands, looking worried. "I think it's best if we go back home where there are more guardians. Just in case," she added, seeing me about to protest. "I place some guards around your house for look outs. Yes Rose, I _know_ you can look after yourself. But there's no harm in taking precautions."

I sighed; she had a point. "How soon can we be back?"

"The planes are ready when we are. So, I suggest we pack and go."

Christian and Dimitri nodded in agreement. I, however, was still undecided. "Now?" I asked glumly, sad that our vacation would be cut a little short.

"Yes, Rose. Now," Lissa said, giving me a small smile. Without any further argument I took Dimitri's hand and led him back up to our bedroom to pack.

"Just remember, you're only going up there to pack!" Christian called up the stairs. I chuckled quietly.

"That gives me an idea..." I said seductively to Dimitri. He gave an exasperated sigh and picked me up in a bridal style.

"Come on, you. We have to go. As much as I'd like to stay..." He broke off as my lips met his. I reluctantly pulled away after a few seconds.

"Let's go," I sighed.

We packed everything that we brought and went back downstairs to find Lissa who was already there with Christian. Glumly, we walked to the jet that Lissa had called out, Dimitri and I with stakes in our hands in case of a run-in with the stalker. Not that we were expecting it to be a Strigoi, but it was the only weapons we had brought.

We sat on the plane home in silence, each of us deep in thought. My mind was focused on my children and their safety. I was confident in the school security, but I couldn't help remembering the Strigoi attack when Dimitri had been turned.

Immediately, when we returned home at about mid-afternoon I rang St. Vladimir's, wanting to check that my kids were okay. A busy sounding receptionist picked up the other end of the line and assured me that they were all safe in lessons right now and that all the wards had been checked just yesterday. Feeling reassured I walked up the stairs to find Dimitri in our bedroom, sat on the bed. He looked up as I entered and gestured for me to sit beside him.

"Roza, this stalker, it could be dangerous and we need to be careful. When I was... turned, I made a lot of powerful enemies, ones that could easily use humans to do their dirty work."

I took in a deep breath and leant my head against his shoulder. "We will be."

He kissed the top of my head and I stood up. "I'm gonna go see Adrian. I'll be back later," I said, planting a quick kiss on his lips.

I decided to walk over to Adrian's instead of drive, wanting some fresh air. Though apparently, that wasn't what Adrian wanted. I could hear thumping music erupting from his house before I could even see it, as I approached I saw his front garden was full of people dancing with drinks in their hands; he had a party in full swing.

I made my way through the garden and into his house, careful not to get drink spilled over me. I had to search the rooms for Adrian for a while before finding him sat in his lounge, surrounded by women with very little clothes on. When he saw me come in he stood up and walked over to me, smelling strongly of alcohol and cigarettes.

"Rose! You're back! I thought Belikov had eaten you! Though, I suppose drunk would be more appropriate in his case," he said, drunkenly. Ignoring the jab at Dimitri I pulled him away from the crowd a little.

"Where was my invite, then" I asked, looking round at the party.

"There was no invites, I just felt like a party. And now, I have one!"

I raised my eyebrows. "You felt like a party or you felt like getting drunk? Actually no, you don't need an excuse for drinking, do you?"

Adrian laughed loudly, "ah, you understand me so well, Rose. But you forget, parties mean girls. _Lots of girls."_ He grinned, as though happy about sounding like a teenager, not the almost middle-aged man he was.

"Poor Caleb, having to feel all of this. Have you actually put any though towards your son?" I snapped, getting frustrated now.

"Course I have. I'm doing him a favour really, 'cause I feel _good."_

"For God's sake, Adrian! Snap out of it! Caleb's probably in a lesson right now, not being able to participate because all he can concentrate on is you attempting to recreate your teenage years!" I snapped, angry for the sake of my son. A look of hurt crossed Adrian's face quickly.

"Rose darling, _lighten up_. You were like this once too, _remember_?"

Now, I was furious. "Number one," I spat, "that was before I had three and a half kids, a fiancée and a job that I take very seriously. Number two..." I was cut off by Adrian.

"Well I don't have any of that do I! I have two kids who I only see on their school holidays, an ex-wife and no job! So, I like to fill it out with drink, cigarettes and women!" He yelled back, sobering my anger slightly. "This," he said, gesturing around the room, "this is your fault!"

Whatever anger had sobered suddenly returned in an explosion. "My fault! My fault! How fucking _dare_ you!" I screamed, ignoring the stares of people around us. "When I met you, you were an arrogant, drunken royal who lived off his daddy! _I _gave you a life,_ I_ gave you children and _I_ protected you! Even after Dimitri, the man that I would _always_ love was taken!"

"Then as soon as he came back you couldn't get away quick enough! You used as a substitute for him!" He spat back.

"And you wonder why," I said, gesturing around the room. It's really quite amazing how just one sentence can make so much difference to a person. I saw the anger in Adrian's eyes make way for sorrow, grief and hurt. His words had bore no truth; the choice between Dimitri and him had been the hardest thing that I had ever had to do and I really had loved Adrian _almost _much as Dimitri.

Looking away from Adrian I stormed out of the room, tears spilling from my eyes.


	26. Chapter 26

**VPOV.**

I was sat on my bed with Jayden, talking just like we used too, before things got... _complicated._ We were discussing random things, ranging from Strigoi attacks all the way to how Mr Kincaid would look in a wig. However, to break our conversation, Caleb knocked at the door, looking quite worried.

"What's up?" Jayden asked as I ushered him into my room. Caleb joined Jayden on my bed and looked up at me.

"Mom and Dad just had, like a massive fight," he explained.

"Mom and Adrian?" I checked, making sure it wasn't Dimitri he was referring to. He nodded. "About what?"

"Well, Dad was having some sort of party, like getting-hammered-naked-women-everywhere type party. Then Mom came round for some reason and started yelling at him because he wasn't taking me into consideration, like how I couldn't concentrate and stuff. Then they had an argument about the breakup and Dimitri," he said, looking sad.

"You saw all of it?" Jayden asked sympathetically. Caleb nodded again. I took my brother in to my arms and hugged him tightly.

"It's okay. They'll be fine soon. You know what Adrian's like when he's drunk," I soothed him.

"If you think that's bad you should see _my_ dad when he's drunk. Actually, you probably wouldn't want to see; it's not pretty," Jayden joked to lighten the mood. We all laughed at the image of Christian dancing on a table in some club.

"Okay," Caleb said. "I'm gonna see if I can block Dad out for a bit and go to do some homework, see you guys later."

He walked back out the roomed, seemingly reassured. "Thanks," I told Jayden after Caleb had disappeared. He gave me a puzzled look.

"What for?"

"Helping him. He hates it when people fight, bless him," I sighed. He pulled me into a hug.

"That's what best friends are for."

I gave him a sceptical look. "You're best friends with Caleb?"

He chuckled quietly, "no, I'm best friends with you, stupid," he laughed, kissing the top of my head. I beamed up at him. Suddenly everything had balanced out; it was how it should be. Jayden and I were meant to be best friends, and maybe I was meant to date Jake, I couldn't tell that yet, though.

A ringtone broke through my thoughts. Jayden pulled out his cell phone and read the text he had been sent, he sighed loudly.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Uh, nothing. I gotta go," he said, kissing my cheek quickly before jumping off my bed and walking to the door.

"I, er, bye..." I said, before he ran out the door. I wondered what could be so important that he would just ditch me without explanation. It wasn't a girl was it? A pang of jealousy sent through me at the thought_. No, he would've said_, I told myself unconvincingly.

Deciding that my room wasn't interesting enough I walked out of the building for some fresh air. I'd barely walked three steps when I was flanked by Jake who grinned down at me.

"Hi," he said, still smiling. We started walking in a random direction.

"Howdy."

"Howdy?"

"Yes, howdy."

"Are you secretly a cowgirl?"

"It's not a secret any more now, is it?"

"Oh, sorry," he said, trying hard to keep his face straight. "Forgive me?"

"I'll consider it."

"Oh, you will, will you? I've got something that might make you forgive faster," he said, pressing his lips to mine. After awhile we broke apart and I could no longer keep a straight face.

"You're forgiven," I laughed.

I turned as to start walking when I saw a certain group of Moroi girls, some glaring and some smirking in my direction. Katie Zeklos stood in the centre, next to her, to my astonishment, stood Ava. She was sending me an attempted glare, weak compared to any that my mother had given me. Unfortunately for her, she looked extremely out of place in with the tall, pale, primped Moroi stood around her.

I felt a slight tug on one of my hands. I turned away from Ava to face Jake who had turned as though to walk in the opposite direction.

"Come on, Vi'. She's not worth it," he said softly, tugging gently again. I complied and allowed him to lead me the other direction.

"Where are we going?" I asked him, as we headed toward the end of campus.

"I want to show you something," he explained, coming to a halt. "I saw it the other day when I was on a run."

In front of us stood a small cabin, one that had been used as a Guardian post years ago. When I said nothing Jayden continued to walk towards it, opening the door and stepping inside, me following. Inside it looked well-kept, aside from the slight build-up of dust. There was a bed in the corner and a fire and really anything a Guardian might need to stay the night.

"You like it?" Jake asked, watching me closely.

"This might sound weird but; I was conceived in here," I told him. Emotions were stirring inside me, sadness for my parents that after this night, they had seen each other for one day when he was taken. It also felt quite weird to be in the place my parents first had sex.

"Really? In here?" Jake asked, looking at me with surprise.

"Yeah," I said briefly.

"You know... that's actually quite romantic," he said, shyly. I smiled at him.

"I know."

I took his hand and headed back out of the door, not wanting to intrude on what had become a private place for my parents.

We started to head back towards campus when I heard voices a little way away; one of them I would recognise anywhere, the other one I didn't.

I peered around the trees and spotted Jayden sat down on the floor, next to him sat a Moroi girl, laughing. The small bit of jealousy that had showed earlier returned as I watched Jayden lace hands with the mystery woman. I couldn't help but notice that the way he was acting around the girl was completely different to the way he'd ever been with me; he looked far less comfortable now.

Jake, who had stopped too, tugged on my arm so to get my attention. "Come on, Violet," he said softly.

I looked into his eyes and wondered what I had ever done to deserve someone as amazing and understanding as him. "I love you," I whispered.

"I love you too," he smiled. I glanced back at Jayden for a moment and thought I saw him looking back, but his attention was on the girl.

**AN: Come on, people. Let's get some reviews written! All you have to do is click the blue button thingy, write some words and then bingo! A happy me.**

**Please?**


	27. Chapter 27

**VPOV.**

As I lay down to sleep that night I couldn't help but think about Jayden and _the girl. _It seemed ironic that only a matter of minutes before meeting her he had told me that I was his best friend, and yet he hadn't bothered to tell me that he had a date. _What a friendship this has started out to be,_ I thought glumly. Another thing that was bugging me was how much I actually cared. I was with Jake now and had thought that I was completely over Jayden and that my only feelings for him were purely friendly. It was true, I was completely in love with Jake, he was amazing. He was the guy that every girl dreams about: tall, dark and handsome. We were on a level with each other, like nothing could come between us because we understood one another so well. _Great, I'm like a young version of my mom,_ I thought despairingly. My situation was just like hers with Dad and Adrian: Dimitri was her soul mate but she would always love Adrian too.

Eventually, I felt the pull of sleep take hold of me and allowed myself to fall.

Only a few hours later I was awoken by a knock at the door, something that was seemingly becoming a habit. Quickly checking my hair in the mirror and pulling a hoodie over my top, I opened the door. Stood there was the man of the moment himself: Mr Jayden Ozera. He gave a small smile when he saw me, and without giving me a chance to speak, brushed past me and into my room. I turned and looked at him expectantly. He studied me with his perfect Ozera eyes, scanning my face and body, though in more of a calculating way than lustful.

was you. I wasn't sure. But you were wearing that hoodie, weren't you?" He rambled. I briefly allowed myself to wonder why he cared so much that I saw him on a date.

"Yeah," I replied simply, feeling no need to lie; he would have seen through it anyway.

"Vi, look..." He started.

"I don't need an explanation, Jayden. What you do is your own business, I really don't care," I lied. Jayden's face faltered and I felt a pang of regret. "I mean, I obviously care about you but I don't mind what you do," I rephrased myself.

"Aren't best friends supposed to tell each other everything?" He asked.

"Good question," I returned, still irritated that he hadn't told me. He sighed again and took a step closer.

"I _want_ to explain to you."

I just watched him, torn between hearing what he had to say and not wanting to. Apparently, he took my silence for a yes and took a deep breath. "Well, seemingly back at court they heard that me and you had broken up. So, the Tarus'- who're still trying to get back to being one of the more prominent royal houses- started making attempts to get me on a date with Victoria Tarus."

_Victoria Tarus_, I had heard that name before. In fact, I think she was some sort of cousin to Daisy and Caleb that we'd never actually met.

"So, they'd been contacting my family trying to get us to meet for a few weeks which just got really annoying. So then I decided that I may as well meet her, like, what harm could it do? But then there was the problem of where seeing as how I'm trapped at school. Then her family managed to get her a visitors pass for the day so we decided to go on a picnic. Y'know, somewhere secluded, where we wouldn't be spotted; or _thought _we wouldn't be.

"The only reason that I didn't tell you was because I figured you'd think it was all stupid and political, which it was, but I didn't want telling that. As it turns out, she was a nice girl, but she defiantly wasn't for me. Not yet, at least," He added wistfully.

I knew the meaning behind his words and felt more guilt rise up within me, but I didn't let it show.

"Am I ever going to get over you?" He asked suddenly. The question took me by surprise, I already knew that he still had feelings for me, but I never expected him to voice it. "How did you get over Oscar? I mean, you loved him didn't you? How did you stop?" He queried. I flinched at the mention of Oscar, trying not to think about him.

"I realized what a fucked up son of a bitch he was. There's a thin line between love and hate," I answered truthfully. Jayden closed his eyes for a second and took some deep breaths.

"I don't think that method will work for me."

"Then maybe you should just let time run its course."

"Time? I've loved you for _years_, but it just gets stronger and stronger. We were only going out for about a month and yet it was the most amazing time of my life. I still loved you even when you where with Oscar, when you where high almost constantly. I helped you and tried to protect you. Do you remember the first day back? When we were in the cafeteria and I had to leave suddenly? I had found out that this kid, Davy or something, was in contact with Oscar and knew about you. I made sure that he didn't tell a soul, because I wanted to protect you. I always will," he finished his speech. Honestly, I had no idea where any of this had come from, had we not just been discussing his date with another girl? I spared a moment to wonder what had happened to Davy, but didn't bother to ask.

I brought him into my arms and hugged him. How was it that somehow we always ended up like this: me and Jayden, in my room, hugging after either making up or having some sort of deep discussion?

"I gets easier," I whispered.

**AN. Look guys, I'm really sorry that I haven't been updating much recently and I'll try to write more now. Oh, and to anyone that messaged me or reviewed telling that they liked the story and wanted it to continue, thanks. I love hearing things like that.**

**Please review!**


	28. Chapter 28

**RPOV.**

I watched silently as people milled around the bench that I was sitting on, most minding their own business, but every so often there would be one that openly stared back. People-watching had become a bit of a habit since my fight with Adrian. It gave me the solitude that I needed to think about everything: my past, my present and my future. All of which seemed daunting.

I was beginning to realise just what I had brought to the world, or rather what my parents had. Of course, there were some positive; my children were everything to me and the thing that I was proudest of, there was also the Strigoi kills that I had made, that was defiantly a plus. But I couldn't help but think of all the bad things that I had done, like ruining Adrian's life.

I hadn't seen him since our fight, which I couldn't decide was a good or bad thing. We had both said things that had hurt one another and that I regretted. I also felt horrible that my son had probably witnessed his parents openly arguing.

The problem I had was, I couldn't even regret the decisions I had made in my life or wish for something else. Like, if I had never married Adrian then I wouldn't have Caleb or Daisy or my house or much money at all. It had all just caught up with me. My _life_ had caught up with me.

Eventually, I knew that I would snap out of my guilty depression and that I just needed to wait it out. So I came to the same bench every day until I did.

Dimitri had guessed straight away that something was wrong when I came home after visiting Adrian but I hadn't confided in him, about that or my feelings. Whatever worries that he may have had he put aside and concentrated solely on looking after me and our baby. When I had been outside for a few hours he would bring me some hot chocolate and sit with me in silence for a while before returning to his duties. Of course, I still did mine too; leaving Lissa was not an option. When I came home at night me and Dimitri would chat about things for a while before retiring to bed where I would just lie in his arms and take comfort from his presence.

I hadn't been outside long enough for Dimitri to have delivered the hot chocolate yet today and I was becoming increasingly bored- a sign that the real Rose was returning. So, instead of sitting I decided to take a walk around court, though avoiding as much civilisation as I could.

There was a small area on the outskirts of the court that consisted of trees and shade. I knew it well seeing as how my kids had played there often when they were smaller. I walked through slowly savouring the shade, time completely alone and the memories that I had of this place. Like watching Caleb climb up his first tree and then fall out giving him a small cut on his knee that he couldn't stop showing off. I chuckled quietly at the memory.

"Something funny?" A familiar voice asked from behind me.

I spun round and faced Adrian who was sat in a tree a few metres behind me. "What are you doing here?" I asked him. He jumped out of the tree with surprising grace and studied me.

"I could ask you the same question," he said, his face uncharacteristically serious. "I actually come here quite a lot. I like to remember... happier times," he explained when I didn't answer. So his reason was almost the same as mine; remembering good times lost.

"I was just walking here," I replied, feeling slightly awkward. I turned as if to carry on walking but his voice called me back.

"Rose, look, all the things that I said, I was just drunk and lonely. I thought that the alcohol and the girls would make me happier, like they did before I met you. They didn't. What you said was all true, you deserve to be with someone like Dimitri rather than some drunken bastard who thinks more about himself than his son. I'm sorry," he said, a slight desperate note in his voice.

Before I knew what I was doing I ran to Adrian and flung my arms around him, nearly knocking him to the floor as I did. "I'm so, so, so sorry too. I didn't mean what I said at all, I was just angry about the party and drinking." I felt a tear fall down my cheek, what the emotion that caused it was I didn't know. Maybe it was relief that everything could go back normal, or as normal as my life's ever been. I turned my head slightly so that I could face him and saw that he had a couple of tears too. Our gazes locked and we laughed, pulling apart from each other.

"Well, at least we won't have to go to family counselling now," I joked as I could so easily when I was around Adrian.

"I wouldn't go that far," he grinned. "There's always someone who needs help in our family." I laughed at that, because, really, it was pretty accurate.

Suddenly, I saw something move in the trees in front of me. I immediately pushed Adrian behind me and pulled my stake out, unsure if it was a threat or not. It could have been an innocent person just walking through the woods, but something told me that I should be on guard.

My instincts were quickly proved correct when a figure holding a gun jumped out from the trees, quickly followed by about six more that surrounded me and Adrian, each pointing their guns to us. I analysed them looking for any way out. Unfortunately, the only weapon that I was carrying was a stake, so Adrian I probably wouldn't make it out without being shot. I was doing my best to cover all of Adrian's body so that no bullets could hit him but it was impossible, he was much taller than me.

After retaking in their appearance I realised something; they weren't Moroi, Strigoi or Dhampir: they were human. At the back of my mindwondered how the hell they had gotten into court, whilst still trying to figure out an escape.

"Rose Ivashkov, you will come with us," said the one I was facing.

"I will? What makes you so sure?" I asked, not allowing them to see that I was scared. In answer, the man came a step closer, pointing the gun at Adrian's head. It was too big a risk to not go with him; I couldn't let him hurt Adrian.

"You will come with us," he repeated. "_Both_ of you."

"No!" I shouted, "You can take me, but leave Adrian."

The man smiled knowingly and nodded his head toward some of his accomplices. They all took steps forward and grabbed Adrian and I, taking my stake from me. I didn't risk struggling as I had a feeling that these guys wouldn't hesitate in shooting Adrian.

They pulled us through the trees towards the back of court and I prayed that there would be a Guardian patrolling there. There wasn't. The humans dragged us swiftly out of court and to a large white van that was parked in the middle of nowhere. Adrian and I were shoved into the back with four of the humans whose gazes remained on us permanently.

"Who are you people? What do you want with me?" I asked them defiantly.

"Shut it," one of them hissed at me. I sighed and rested my head against the side of the van.

"Well this sucks," I whispered to Adrian, attempting to comfort him a little. He gave a small, weary smile.

"Yeah," he agreed.

"Oi!" The human interrupted. "I said shut it."

We spent the best of two and a half hours (from what I could guess) in the van, all lived out in silence. I remembered the time when I had been captured by humans with guns before, which had resulted in the death of Mason, but I wouldn't let anyone die this time.

Although I wanted to be safe again, I was insanely curious as to why a bunch of humans needed me and how they knew my name and where I would be. When we finally got out of the car I saw that we'd been taken to a large, probably expensive house that looked to be in the middle of nowhere. Our human guards led us inside and then down a flight of stairs towards the basement. Before we reached the door I felt a wave of nausea wash over me: there was a Strigoi down there.

The humans thrust us into a dimly lit room that was decorated carefully with many antiques, it would have been beautiful if not for the Strigoi sat in an armchair near the centre of the room. Adrian stiffened beside me as he caught sight of the Strigoi. I studied it in complete shock and horror.

"Rose! You made it!" The Strigoi exclaimed. "I trust you've been well whilst I was away?"

The voice was same and yet far colder and crueller than it had been before, and it hadn't exactly been nice then. The Strigoi smiled at me, "don't be shy, Rose. After all, we're old friends."


	29. Chapter 29

**RPOV.**

Victor Dashkov sat just metres away from me, smiling at me like it was some sort of family reunion, only his smile was cold and sinister. Any words that I could think of saying were caught in my throat as I stared at him in fear. He stood up and glided quickly across to where we stood. He caught my throat in one hand and with the other gently caressed my cheek. I could do nothing but stand there and allow him to study me, still with the cold smile fixed to his face.

"But you're dead," I whispered, finally managing to say something. Victor's smile grew and he stood back from me and Adrian, still watching us carefully.

"So. What do we have here then? Rose Hathaway and an Ivashkov, Adrian isn't it? I must say, I was surprised when someone informed me you had married him, you and Belikov always seemed so..._ close. _But then, I suppose the draw of money and power appealed to you as much as the next person, Rose." At least that was something, Victor had no idea that Adrian and I were divorced or that Dimitri had been turned.

"And children too, yes? Three on the last count, I hear. Or three and half now," Victor continued, indicated my stomach where a small bump sat. The thing that was scaring me was how much Victor knew about my life, he had been in prison for the most part and I had no idea how he'd escaped and become a Strigoi, or where he'd collected these human minions. The fact that he knew about my kids terrified me the most; what if his minions managed to get them too, they'd gotten into court easily enough.

"What do you want with us?" Adrian said next to me. He sounded completely petrified. Victor's gaze shifted from me over to him briefly but then returned to me.

"Revenge," he smiled.

A chill sent down my spine, but I wouldn't let my fear show. I would not show Victor Dashkov any sign of weakness. "Take Lord Ivashkov away," Victor instructed the humans. "And make sure he's locked up tightly," he added menacingly. "Me and Rosemarie need some alone time."

The humans grabbed Adrian and roughly pushed him back out the door. I tried to manoeuvre myself so that I could get them off of Adrian but Victor instantly grabbed my hands and pulled me away. He pulled me close to him and grabbed my hair, yanking it back. I screamed out in pain, much to Victor's amusement.

"Pain, it's a funny thing, isn't it, Rose?" He whispered into my ear as he pulled back up.

"No, not really," I said bravely, trying to show him that I wasn't scared.

"Ah, you haven't changed a bit," he laughed coldly. He whirled me around quickly and pushed my air out of the way to reveal the _molnija _marks on the back of my neck. "Impressive," he observed. "I always knew that you'd make an excellent Guardian."

He turned back around so that I faced him again and plunged his teeth into my neck causing excruciating pain to shoot through me. I jumped away before he could put any endorphins into my system: I wanted to stay alert. He simply watched me and laughed, "Come on Rose, I know how you like it. Being a blood whore is like a second nature to your family," he sneered.

"How dare you!" I spat back, calling me a blood whore was one thing but Strigoi or not, nobody insulted my family. I struck out at Victor and managed to land a blow on his jaw but he didn't even flinch. Instead, he grabbed my wrists and slammed me to the floor, pinning me down.

"What's the matter, Rose? Didn't you know about you daughters dark past? How did you miss it?" He taunted, I had no idea what he was on about. "Violet Belikov. Mmm, she's more like you than you think," he laughed.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I yelled at him. His grin grew, revealing his sharp fangs.

"You really didn't know? Oh, Rose," he sighed. "I guess there won't be any parent of the year awards for you," he mused. He was just trying to work me up, and it was working. I had to calm down. When I didn't say anything else he continued.

"Yes, my researchersdug up some interesting stuff about your daughter. Ever heard of Oscar Lazar? No? Well he was Violet's boyfriend for nearly a year. He also liked to feed from her. So much, in fact, that she spent most of that year completely out of it and failed almost everything."

"You're lying! You know nothing about my daughter! She would never do that," I screamed at him, completely unable to control my rage. I knew that I was just making this all easier for him, but I had to protect my little girl.

"If that's what you want to believe," he finished.

"I do," I snapped. He still had my arms pinned to floor and was looking down at me happily.

"I've waited a long time for this, Rose. I spent most of my time in prison coming up with plans to escape and to find you, since you're the main reason that I was in there..."

"You were in there because you're an evil, psychopathic son of a bitch!" I interrupted

He continued like I hadn't said anything, "but I was in so much pain, pain like you wouldn't believe, Rose. The disease had come back and I was dying, but I was dying for a long time. After fifteen years I still hadn't died. So, I used compulsion one day to make it look like I was dead, it worked. They dragged me out and left one guy to bury me outside. With all the strength I could muster I drained him and became a Strigoi. Then I escaped and gathered myself some little soldiers that I ordered to follow you around so that I knew when I could take you and have my revenge." He leaned in closer so that his mouth was by my ear. "I will torture you just as I was tortured, Rose. I gather each of your family members and one by one you will watch them die. I will wait for your baby to be born and then I will kill it before you even have the chance to hold it. I will be here to torture you for the rest of your life. You will be driven made with pain just as I was. And I won't kill you. You will live in your pain for eternity," he threatened me, his voice so low and cold that I shivered with fear.

Tears dropped down my cheeks because I knew there was no way out of this. Victor had gotten into court, what was stopping him from doing it again, or getting into St. Vladimir's?

"No," I whispered, tears still rolling down my cheeks. "Just take me. I did it to you. Not them. Please, just leave them alone," I pleaded with him. He smiled.

"Ah, Rose Hathaway begging me for mercy. The icing on the cake."

**AN: Please, please, please, please review! See, I'm not above begging, and apparently neither is Rose when her family is concerned. **

**Come on, review with ideas and theories and whatever really. PLEASE!**

**Okay, I'm done now.**


	30. Chapter 30

**AN: I apologise for my lack of updating.**

**RPOV.**

I knew that I was going to die. Whether it was now or in twenty years, I would die at the hand of Victor Dashkov. But it wouldn't just be me that died. Whether the humans managed to capture my kids and Dimitri or not, they still had Adrian and my unborn child.

Victor still pinned me to the ground with one hand and stroked my hair gently with the other. There was nothing that I could do to prevent a tear from falling down my cheek and onto the cold floor. Victor smiled down at me.

"Now, now Rosemarie. I thought you were a guardian, are guardians not supposed to strong in situations like these?"

To be honest, I highly doubted that many guardians had ever been in a situation like this, usually Strigoi just took their pray and sucked the life out of them, rather than taking them prisoner and making the effort to slaughter their family. Even so, I fought back against the tears forming in my eyes and stared Victor straight in the face.

"Such a shame that your bond only works in one way, Rose. If it were the other way around you could have called Vasilisa for help, or of course _Queen _Vasilisa as she is known now-a-days."

I processed his words carefully as I knew there was something in them that could help me. It was true that I had no way of contacting Lissa through my own bond, but I was not the only person here who possessed one. My only hope was that Adrian had somehow alerted Caleb to what was happening. No doubt he would then inform one of the school's guardians who would hopefully get the message down to Lissa and Dimitri. I tried to figure out how long it would take for people to get here, how long I would have to keep Adrian alive.

The only thing that I could think of to distract Victor would be to keep him talking: something that he was undoubtedly good at. I rummaged through my head for subjects that would keep him busy while a rescue crew hopefully came to find Adrian and I.

"What you were saying earlier, about my daughter, is it true?" I asked in the most neutral voice I could manage. Victor's lips curled into a smile.

"Of course. I still have a few connections from the vampire world, though most don't know that I'm a Strigoi now. However, one of them has a daughter at St. Vladimir's, Ava I think her name was. Apparently she was quite close to young Violet."

Ava. Yes, I knew Ava. She had stayed at my house quite a few times in holidays. However, I was not surprised that it had been one of her family to inform Victor of Violet's possible blood whore past. I knew for a fact that Ava's father was Josef Sarcozy, the older brother of Ralf. She was product of Josef's affair with a Dhampir woman who never trained to be a guardian for some reason.

"As I told you before, Violet fell deeply in love with a royal Moroi, Oscar Lazar. He clearly wasn't a particularly nice person, which is unsurprising considering his ignorant, royal upbringing. He fed off of her, Rose. Nearly every day, he sucked blood from your daughter and she allowed it. How did you not notice?"

I knew that Victor was using some of his Strigoi compulsion on me to make me believe in his story, but there was a part of me which, although wanted desperately for his words to be false, knew that he was telling the truth. There were some parts of that year where I remember Violet had acting strangely or achieving uncharacteristically low grades. In the holidays I remember that she spent most of her time in her room or out with Jayden, who I now realised must have been covering for her all along. When she was at home she barely ate and looked much thinner than usual. I had just put all this down to typical teenage reluctance. Never once did it go through my mind that she might be a blood whore.

My heart broke at the thought that I had not completed my duty as a mother, not protected my daughter from making mistakes like those. I had been too wrapped up in my job as a guardian to see that my family needed me.

Apparently, my expression was giving Victor all he wanted as a sinister smirk had lit up his face.

"Of course, Violet's little mishap is now common knowledge to the students of St. Vladimir's. I made sure of that," he said with an edge of pride in his voice.

"How?" I asked, although I really had no care for the answer, I had to keep him talking.

"I managed to convince old Josef what a bad reputation your daughter was giving his. He has no care for the girl, but his ego is another matter entirely. He spoke to Ava about it and she apparently had no problem distancing herself from Violet. Obviously they don't preach loyalty these days. You see Rose, I just plant the seed, I need others to allow tree to grow."

"How do you know all of this?" I questioned. Victor backed away a little, allowing me some movement, but not enough that I could punch of kick him.

"I've had my spies at the school for months, just like the ones I placed in court, surely a talented guardian like you noticed them?"

"Actually, I did," I told him, satisfied at having caught him in at least one stage of his little plan.

"And yet you did nothing. Aside from accompany Vasilisa on a lovely holiday," he said coldly. "Oh yes! That reminds me, how do you think Lord Ivashkov will feel about your little affair?"

I frowned up at Victor, what was he talking about?

"My spies told me all about your romance with one of Lissa's other guardians. Tall, dark and handsome is what they told me," he laughed. Dimitri. He was talking about Dimitri, clearly his spies were not as all-knowing as supposed. I almost smiled at his mistake but held it back for the sake of somewhat keeping him in the dark.

Victor's expression briefly changed at my lack of reaction to the news of my 'adultery' but he quickly changed to back to his normal amused look. "Why don't we see, eh?" Victor lifted one arm and gestured one of the guard out to go and collect Adrian. I had no idea how much time it would take for people to get here. I prayed it be soon or else Adrian would be dead.

Victor stood, pulling me up with him. He yanked my arms back and held them against my back. There was no way that I could form any kind of attack on him and he knew it. He rested his head on my shoulder and started to nibble on my neck, teasing me with his fangs. A shiver of disgust ran through me as I struggled to move, but it was no use.

"Are you ready for this, Rose?" He whispered in my ear. "Just remember what I said; this is all your fault."


	31. Chapter 31

**VPOV.**

I was walking from my dorm towards the gym when Caleb went sprinting past me towards the guardians' headquarters, panic showing all over his face. He ran past without seeing me, too focused on getting to his destination to see anything else. Without hesitating, I tore off immediately after him, following him straight to Alberta's office. He knocked on the door and then turned around to see me standing behind him. The pain and fear on his face was terrifying me and lead me to believe the worst had happened. Was it something in his dorm? One of his friends? Adrian? Him? He gave me a nod and clasped my hand, looking like he was about ready to collapse.

"What…" I began to ask him but the door opening in front of us interrupted me. Alberta gestured us into her office and sat down behind the desk. She took one look at Caleb's face and cut straight to business.

"Mr Ivashkov? What's going on?"

Caleb swallowed hard and then looked at Alberta, "you need to call the court guardians," he said urgently. "Tell them that my parents have been taken by a Strigoi and are being held captive. And I think…" Caleb looked down at the floor, trying to gather his words. "I think that my dad is being tortured."

I clasped my hand over my mouth, too in shock to speak. Panic and worry quickly settled through my body.

"Are they both alive? What about mom's baby? Caleb, what the hell is happening?" I rambled at him desperately. For a moment I had to grasp one of the wall shelves in order to keep myself upright. Alberta, not needing to ask any questions or gather evidence, had picked up her phone and dialled the number.

Caleb turned to me, grabbing my spare hand to support him. "I can't see him, Violet. I think he's blocking me out, but he's alive; I can feel it."

I breathed a sigh of relief that Adrian was still alive and moved my concentration back to Alberta who was now talking to someone at the end of the line.

"Yes, yes, Rose and Adrian… I don't know! But they're both being held captive somewhere… Inform the Queen, she'll want to know of her Guardian's capture… Listen, Guardian Borovsky, I'm going to hand you over to Caleb Ivashkov, their son. He's bonded with Lord Ivashkov and knows the details of the capture. We can work from there," Alberta told the Guardian on the phone. She handed the phone to Caleb who took it cautiously. Alberta gave a nod, "tell them everything you know. They'll help save your parents, I promise."

Caleb put the phone to his ear and began to describe what exactly had happened to Mom and Adrian. I listened intently and tried to work out how and why any of this was. It seemed like someone had gone to an awful lot of trouble to get to them, infiltrating court was no mean feat. Though it seemed to becoming more and more frequent. The guardian part of me was desperate to get out and help search for Mom and Adrian, Caleb had enough evidence that it shouldn't be too hard. However, the teenage girl part of me just wanted to curl up and wait for this to all be over, she wanted her mom and almost-dad back home where they belonged.

"The man, the Strigoi, his name was Victor Dashkov, if that helps at all," Caleb told the phone. "I think he's someone from my mom's past or something."

The name rang a few bells in my mind but I couldn't quite fit the pieces together. The Dashkovs were one of the royal families so maybe that's where I had heard it before. But a royal Strigoi? That wasn't ever heard of, except for Jayden's Ozera grandparents.

Caleb handed the phone back to Alberta who said a few parting words to the guardian and then hung up the phone. She turned to us, her face grave. "They're going to send out a search party for your parents. In the meantime, I will organise a plane for the two of you and your sister to get back to court in wait. I suggest that you go and pack what you will need and then come back here."

Caleb and I nodded and then turned to walk out of the office when Alberta spoke again. "And guys? If I know your mother like I think I do, they'll be okay."

I nodded my appreciation to Alberta whom I had known almost since birth and then walked out in the direction of my dorm. Caleb grabbed a hold of my hand again as we walked and I pulled him into a hug.

"Hey, you know what Moms like, they'll be home in no time," I attempted to reassure him. "Besides, with Dimitri on the case no Strigoi even stands a chance."

Caleb moved his head back and nodded, but he didn't look too convinced. "I go and get Daisy, then grab some stuff. Meet us back at the office," I told him, letting go off him.

"Okay, I'll see you in bit," he said as casually as he could.

I ran off towards the elementary campus to Daisy's dorm as quickly as I could. The receptionist lady at the desk gave me a strange look as I entered the building but didn't try and stop me as I ran up the stairs. In my head I prayed that Daisy be in her room so that I wouldn't have to waste anytime tracking her down. Seemingly, my prayer somewhat paid off as when I knocked Daisy came to the door almost immediately.

Without waiting for welcome or consent to enter, I pushed past Daisy and began putting the things that she would need in a pile on her bed.

"Vi'? What are you doing?" She asked, watching me move her things around. On the other side of the room I vaguely noted her roommate watching me curiously.

"We have to go back to court for a little while. I'll explain to you while we're on the plane back, okay?" I answered, finding a bag and placing her things in. Daisy asked no more questions, placing her trust in me as wholly as usual. I checked with her that she wouldn't need anything else and then we started to make our way out, though not before she had hugged her roommate goodbye.

I held her hand as we ran back to my dorm in order to pick up anything that I would need. When we reached my dorm I told Daisy to wait in the reception area whilst I went to my room. She complied and sat down on one of the seats with her bag.

Just as I was walking down the corridor to my room I saw Jake coming in my direction.

"There you are!" He grinned, "I've been looking for you everywhere, what… Violet? What's the matter?" He paused, seeing my expression.

"I have to go back to court for a little while," I said, catching hold of his hand and leading him back into my room.

"What? Why?" He asked, watching me as I started rummaging through my mess for anything essential.

"There's been an incident with my mom and Adrian. We need to be at court for when they come back."

"Come back? Where have they been?"

"Look, I don't have much time to explain, I'll ring you when I get there," I said, emptying a bag and placing my things inside it. I slung it over my shoulder and walked over to Jake, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. We walked out of my room and down to where Daisy was sitting together.

"I'll miss you," he said as we reached Daisy. I stood on my tip-toes and gave him another kiss.

"I'll miss you, too," I promised before grabbing Daisy and heading back to Alberta's office.

Caleb and Alberta where both waiting for us when we got to the office so we wasted no time in heading to the plane. Alberta gave us a quick goodbye before we boarded the plane and took our seats.

"So, what's going on?" Daisy asked as soon as we were in the air. "What's wrong with Mommy and Daddy?"

I held her hand as I started to explain to her the situation that her parents were in. She took in all in bravely though I could see that she was fighting back tears.

Suddenly, Caleb stiffened next to me.

"What?" I turned to him. "Caleb, what's wrong?"

He looked at me, his face a mixture of terror and grief.

"It's Dad: I can't feel him anymore."

**AN: If you review I will love you forever. Do it! **


	32. Chapter 32

**RPOV.**

For a moment, everything was completely blank. There was nothing. But then I came back to reality. I clamped my eyes shut so that I wouldn't have to see what was in front of me. I screamed so loud that I probably damaged my own hearing, I didn't care though. I couldn't even make sense of why I was screaming. Even when I had reached the point of extreme nausea from lack of oxygen, I still screamed. How long I was screaming for I will never know.

There was nothing I could do. I couldn't allow myself to feel the full impact of what had happened; I knew it would be too much for my body to take.

Suddenly, a strong hand clamped over my mouth, forcing me to stop. For which I was somewhat grateful for. At least, until I saw what was holding my mouth closed.

I opened my eyes to see two scarlet red eyes staring down at me. I knew the eyes well but there was something wrong about them… something my muddled mind couldn't quite piece together. Then an image came into my head, an image of the same eyes except they were much kinder and were the most beautiful emerald green colour.

Adrian.

The puzzle in my head began to piece itself back together as I remembered what was happening. It was Victor, he had taken us. He had promised me revenge for his time in prison. And revenge he had gotten.

My mind went back to the moment when the guards had brought Adrian in and sat him on the chair opposite me. I saw Victor as he bound me with rope so that there was no way that I could miss his show. Adrian had looked at me, fear in his eyes and told me that he was sorry and that he would always love me. I felt my heart breaking as Victor started to hurt him, cutting and burning and twisting until Adrian was almost unrecognisable. I thought of my son, who was probably watching and feeling this with his father and I wished for nothing more than release. It carried on and on, Adrian's screams intermingling with Victor's cruel laughs in my head. There was no release. Not for Adrian, not for Caleb and not for me.

When Adrian had finally fallen unconscious, Victor had turned to me, resting his forehead against mine he whispered: "are you remembering Rose? Are you watching? Don't worry, it isn't over yet."

And then he did it. The worst thing that he could ever do. He made me watch as he turned Adrian.

I came back to the present to see the Strigoi Adrian being restrained by a snarling Victor. The human guards stood around them keeping their guns trained on Adrian. Not that that would do much good.

My heart twisted inside my chest as I watched Adrian, the man whom I had spent so many years with, bloodthirsty and violent, trying to get out of Victor's hold. He had no such luck, of course. Victor was older and probably knew much more about fighting than the brand-new, inexperienced Adrian.

It was awful to remember that the Strigoi in front of me was the father of my children. That he may never be able to support them and love them again. The selfish part of me was aching over the fact that the man that I had loved, and always would, was never coming back. I was just too much to take in.

Tears were pouring down my cheeks, my insides numb from all the pain and my eyes burning from what I had witnessed. Victor looked at me and smiled, the sheer evil in his eyes gleaming through.

"And that was just a taster," he laughed.

Adrian snarled at me, a hungry look in his eyes. Victor laughed again. "My, my, how quickly they change."

He looked as though he was going to say something else when suddenly the door burst open and people burst into the room. They weren't human guards like I was expecting but Dhampirs, Dhampirs that I knew.

The guardians managed to take down the humans quickly. I could see maybe twelve, maybe thirteen of them crowded in the room. Some of the humans ran for it as soon as the door opened, realising that they would have no chance of surviving if they stayed. I hoped that there would be guardians outside that would get to the humans as payback for what they sat back and witnessed.

In the corner of the room, Victor and Adrian were becoming surrounded, being pushed back further and further. I could see the guardian's uneasiness and despair at the sight of Adrian who was hissing at them and baring his fangs.

In the corner of my vision I saw the door re-open and another Dhampir step through. My heart leapt as I caught sight of Dimitri rushing towards me. His hands clasped the sides of my face and he stared into my eyes, communicating all the messages that we wanted to say. He kissed the top of my forehead and my lips before quickly untying me and handing me a stake. I grabbed his hand as we made our way over to witness what was happening to Victor and Adrian.

Just as I got to the crowd I saw Eddie jump out and stake Victor through the heart. He crumpled to the ground in a heap, shooting me one last smirk before he dies. I felt a weight lift off of my shoulders as I knew that he couldn't harm me or my family any longer. However, I was a little disappointed that his death had been so easy and that he had not met the end he deserved.

Adrian was now completely backed up into the corner. He didn't even bother to fight, probably realising that he couldn't escape. One of the guardians began to step out from the crowd in order to stake Adrian.

"NO!" I screamed. The guardian immediately stopped and turned to me, sympathy written all over her face.

"I'm sorry, Rose. But we have too. He's gone," she said.

"No, we can save him. I can get someone to save him," I told them. A few of them gave me strange looks as though I was talking complete nonsense.

"It's true," Dimitri stepped in. He moved forward a little and addressed them. "I was a Strigoi, and I was saved by a man named Robert Doru. I can get him to save Adrian," he promised. The people still looked uneasy at the thought of letting a Strigoi live, but they all respected and believed Dimitri so they lowered their stakes.

"We'll put him in some place secure, with round-the-clock security until we can get Robert here. He's not strong or experienced enough to fight back," Dimitri ordered.

"What about food?" One of the men asked. "He'll need it."

Dimitri thought for a second before answering. "Blood supplies from the hospital will do him. He won't be like this for very long."

The guardians nodded and set to work in securing Adrian for the ride home. A cold, menacing laugh came from the centre of the group. I knew the laugh like I did the eyes: the same but different. Adrian looked around at the people, his eyes fixing on me.

"Much as I… _appreciate_ your hospitality, I won't be sticking around for very long, so you needn't worry. Don't be surprised if a Strigoi and a few of your children go missing," he laughed. Hearing him speak made my blood run cold. I couldn't even compare the evil, cold voice that the Strigoi had just used to the amused, happy and occasionally drunk one that Adrian spoke in.

For the first time I allowed myself to fully look at him. Somehow, the marks and cuts from the torture had disappeared as he had turned; making way for the sheet white skin that now covered his body. He looked similar to Adrian, but he wasn't anywhere close.

Dimitri squeezed my hand gently and pulled me into a hug as the guardians took Adrian out of the building.

"Oh, Roza," he sighed into my hair. I put my head on his chest and drew comfort from the steady beat of his heart. I looked up at him, pushing some escaped hair out of his face.

"Promise me that you'll never leave me again," I told him, tears falling down my face. I needed to know that he'd be there, that he'd help get me through. Dimitri kissed the tears from my cheeks and then kissed me softly on the lips.

"I will never let you go," he replied.

**AN: Review, please?**


	33. Chapter 33

**VPOV.**

"What do you mean you can't feel him anymore? Caleb, what's happening?!" I practically shouted at him. Tears had welled up in his eyes, making the green stand out even more than usual. He looked at me, fear and panic written all over his face.

"I-I-I don't know. He could have... died. Or worse." He said quietly.

"Worse?" Daisy piped in. "What's worse?" Nobody answered. We were too afraid to say it. An image flashed across my brain of Adrian, the man who had raised me as his daughter despite all the complications and objections he faced, with bright scarlet eyes and the expression of pure hatred that all Strigoi possessed. A chill ran up my spine and I hugged Daisy, who had begun to cry, closer to me.

"It will be okay," I soothed, unsure whether it was more to myself or Daisy. "Everything will be okay."

Our time on the plane seemed to pass a thousand times more slowly than previous return journeys to court. We sat in silence, each of us wrapped up in our own thoughts. Mine where haunted by the same image of Adrian along with fears for my mom and her unborn baby. My sibling.

When we eventually landed in court in what seemed like ages later, a group of guardians met us. They instructed us to follow them towards the Royal Court, where undoubtedly the queen was waiting for us. As I predicted, when we arrived inside Lissa's private quarters she stood pacing about the room, her face anxious. She glanced up as we arrived and swept over to us. Her face practically confirmed the worst.

"He's a Strigoi then?" Caleb asked. "My dad, he's a Strigoi," his voice cracked. Lissa sighed sadly.

"From what I've heard from the guardians on scene, yes. But we are working very hard for that to be reversed."

"How? And what about mommy?" Daisy asked. Lissa slid a comforting arm around Daisy's shoulders.

"We hope to change him back in the same way that Dimitri," she spared a glance at me, "was restored. As for Rose, her and the baby aren't hurt, but she's a bit shaken up."

I nodded, understanding. "Do you know when they'll be back?" I asked, completely unsure of what I would do when I saw them. In fact, I was pretty certain that I didn't want to see Adrian as a Strigoi, and I would make sure that my siblings didn't ever have to either.

"It shouldn't be long now, we'll wait here until they do," Lissa replied. The four of us sat down on the chairs placed around the room and waited. I caught sight of a clock hanging on the wall and began to count the seconds, passing the time by having a breath holding competition with myself. The sudden sound of my phone ringing made me, and the others, jump out of our seat. It shouldn't have. Guardians are not easily startled. But it must have been a testament to how on edge we all were.

I took my phone out of my pocket and glanced at the screen. Jayden. I quickly muttered that I would just be outside and slipped out of the room, pressing answer as I went.

"Hello?"

"Violet, hey. I just got told the news. Are you okay?" He asked. "I mean, of course you're not okay but, yeah." He spluttered before I had the chance to reply. I couldn't help but smile.

"It's okay, we're at court waiting for them to get back. How did you find out?"

"Dad phoned me. Violet..."

"Yeah?"

"I just want you to know that I'm always here for you, okay?" The sincerity in his voice comforted me and assured me that he would be.

"I kn..." I began, but froze midsentence, the phone falling from my grasp. Approximately 200 metres from me stood a team of guardians surrounding something. It was clear that they were both trying to secure the thing and to keep it hidden. They did not succeed. The image that had been haunting me for the past few hours became a reality as I saw Adrian as a Strigoi. I caught a glimpse of him snarling, attempting to escape, his new, blood red eyes wide and evil. A gasp escaped my lips as I watching them drag him away toward the prison.

"Violet? Violet, are you there?" I vaguely heard a quiet voice coming from my phone on the ground. Slowly, I bent down and picked it.

"They're back, Jay. I have to go." I said before hanging up and tearing of back to Lissa's quarters. As I burst into the room everyone instantly turned towards me. "They're back," I said, trying hard to keep my voice level. Immediately, Caleb and Daisy were up and following me back outside, the queen and her guardian's just behind.

We went out to see another host of guardians filtering into court, my mother and father among them. We dashed over to them as quickly as we could before wrapping ourselves all in a huge group hug. I stood back a little and gave mom a once over. She didn't look too physically harmed but her brown eyes were rather wild and distressed, showing her obvious mental strain. "Are you guys okay?" she asked, her glance passing over each of us in turn. I couldn't help but give a choked laugh.

"You go through all of that and now you're asking us if we're okay?"

"I guess so," she chuckled. I noticed that her hand was clamped onto dads' as though she couldn't bear to ever let it go. Dad's spare arm wrapped around my shoulders and he kissed my head.

"Mom..." Caleb began cautiously. "Do you think that we'll get dad back?"

She took a shaky breath. "I do." She said earnestly.

"We'll make sure of it," Dimitri added, certainty in his voice.

**AN: Review pleeeeeeease?**


	34. Chapter 34

**RPOV.**

We waited in the house for what seemed like an age before somebody came to give us news of Adrian's condition. Each face displayed the same emotions of fear, worry and apprehension as we sat in silence, everyone too tense to speak. My hand remained clamped in Dimitri's as though neither of us could function without the touch of the other. Just his presence was enough to comfort me and keep me as calm as I could be given the situation. As I gazed over the faces of my children a pang of sorrow registered in my heart, followed by a surge of protectiveness as I watched their pale faces, determined to do whatever it took to make them feel happiness again.

Eventually some of our misery was relieved when a guardian knocked on the door and entered the house. His face was dead pan and gave nothing away, exactly how a guardian was trained to look. Before he could even get into the room or sit down he was hounded with questions from Caleb and Daisy—both desperate to hear news on their father. Violet remained sitting, her face neutral but I could see in her eyes that she needed answers too. The guardian—whose name was Joseph—stood and looked over each of us in turn; "Queen Vasilisa wishes me to inform you that she, and the guardians involved, have tried tirelessly to help Mr Ivashkov."

"And?" Caleb asked impatiently before Joseph could continue. Violet slid her hand into his in attempt to calm both him and herself.

"They managed to stake him with a spirit infused stake, just as Mr Belikov described. From what we have seen it has been successful but we will need to keep him under close observation for a while…" Joseph was forced to trail off as nobody was listening anymore. I felt a smile spread across my face as Dimitri sighed with relief and the kids laughed in happiness.

Adrian was back. He was okay.

"When can we see him?" Daisy questioned before walking towards me and hugging me tightly. She gazed up at me with her emerald eyes, eyes exactly like Adrian's were once again. Carefully she lifted a hand and wiped it across my cheek, catching a tear that I didn't even realise had escaped.

"In a moment we'll be moving him to a private room where he can be monitored. I expect that you'll be able to see him there; we'll send someone to collect you." Joseph said before standing up and making his exit.

"Thank you!" I called after him before turning to my family. I could see the tears of relief on my face reflected on Violet's as she hugged Dimitri before turning to me.

"We've got him back now, mom" she smiled. "Right, dad?" She looked at Dimitri—the only person who knew how Adrian could be saved and if would work.

"I believe so," he said solemnly. His confirmation was enough to make me hope without guilt that everything would be alright again.

For the next hour we waited in building eagerness to be able visit Adrian. Images of his Strigoi form plagued me as I tried to fight them down. It had been my fault that this had happened to him, that we had been taken. But he was back now, and it was over. My anticipation only grew as we made our way to where they were keeping him. Two guardians were stood outside by the doors and I didn't doubt there were more surrounding the area and plenty inside. We were lead through a short corridor before coming to a halt outside a metal door. The door was opened and the kids cautiously walked through. I turned and saw Dimitri taking a step back against the wall. "I'll wait outside, it's better if only close family go in right now," he explained. I smiled slightly and squeezed his hand before walking into the room.

The entire room was white and definitely seemed to be aiming for a 'minimalist' theme. I saw Lissa sat in an armchair beside a bed that looked like it had been stolen from the nearby hospital. Violet, Caleb and Daisy were crowded on the bed, surrounding Adrian who was grinning and hugging each of them. He looked up at my entrance, "Rose," he breathed. The way he said my name brought all my feeling of guilt to the surface and I ran over to him.

"Oh, Adrian. I'm so sorry," I told him as I pulled him into a tight embrace. Tears leaked out of my eyes once more as I thought back to what had happened to us at Victor Dashkov's hand. Adrian hugged me back firmly.

"Shhh, Rose," he soothed. "It wasn't your fault, you helped save me. Thank you." He looked behind me and frowned "where's Belikov? I kinda wanted to talk to him, since he knows about… this."

"He's outside; I can get him if you want?" I offered. Adrian hugged me again before nodding and letting me go and collect Dimitri.

The two of them talked for ages. I stood in wonder and watched the men that I loved immerse in conversation about their experience. Any animosity held between them previously seemed to have been dissolved by their mutual understanding and experience. Like me, Violet watched them, a small smile on her face. I wrapped an arm around her and kissed the top of her head before turning to the men. "I think that we should leave you two to it for a while," I smiled. "You have a lot to talk about, and I think some of us really need some sleep," I gave a pointed look at Daisy. She looked at me and made a reluctant move to leave. "We'll visit again in the morning, I promise."

Each of the children said their goodbyes to Adrian before standing back. I kissed Dimitri on the forehead before hugging Adrian again. "See you later," I smiled at them both.

**AN: Sorry I haven't updated in so long, please review!**


End file.
